Colorado Springs mass shooting live: Anderson Lee Aldrich’s father speaks out as motive behind massacre remains unclear

The father of Colorado Springs shooting suspect Anderson Aldrich says his first reaction to being informed of the attack at Club Q was to question why his child was at an LGBTQ bar.

Aaron Brink, former porn actor and MMA fighter, told CBS8 he got a call Sunday night from his child’s public defender saying he was under arrest for the mass shooting.

“They started telling me about the incident, a shooting that involved multiple people,” Mr. Brink said in an interview.

“And then I go on to find out it’s a gay bar. I said, ‘God, is he gay?’ I was scared, ‘S***, is he gay?’ And he’s not gay, so I said, ‘Phhhewww…’”

Watch the full interview with CBS 8 below.

More than 20 local breweries in Colorado Springs will be pooling resources for a day-long fundraiser, with a portion of the tab going toward providing financial support to victims and survivors of last Saturday’s Club Q mass shooting.

The “Brews for Q” fundraiser will go towards the day’s sales to charity campaigns set up following the attack which left five people dead and more than a dozen injured at a popular LGBT+ nightclub.

A Facebook event for the fundraiser, posted by one of the local breweries, The Public House, describes how they are “going into many local establishments for #BrewsForQ this #SmallBusinessSaturday to raise money for the victims and their families”.

“From 12-5 pm on November 26, $1 from pints spilled at both PH locations will be donated to a verified victims’ fund,” the event report says.

The motive behind the Club Q attack which left five people dead and at least 18 others injured is still under investigation by the authorities.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of committing those crimes as part of a premeditated attack.

Prosecutor Michael Allen said the suspect, who appeared in court Wednesday via video with visible injuries to his face and neck, was “physically competent” to stand trial.

His next hearing is scheduled for December 6.

Aaron Brink, former porn actor and MMA fighter, told CBS8 he got a call Sunday night from his child’s public defender saying he was under arrest for the mass shooting.

During that interview with the San Diego-based news outlet, Mr Brink, 48, said his ex-wife Laura Voepel called him in 2016 to say their child, born Nicholas Brink, had been named to change and die. by suicide.

“His mum told me he changed his name because I was in (a reality TV show) Intervention and I was a porn actress,” said Mr. Brink CBS8.

He believed his child was dead until six months ago, when he got a call out of the blue from Aldrich.

According to Mr Brink’s account, Aldrich was “pissed off” and wanted to “motivate the old man”.

He added that he taught his child how to fight at a young age and “reprimanded him for violent behaviour”.

“I told him it works. It’s immediate and you get immediate results,” said Mr. Brink CBS8.

Here’s what we know so far about the five killed.

A former Army captain tackled a shooter who opened fire at an LGBT+ nightclub in Colorado Springs and knocked the suspect unconscious when a woman hit him in the cross-heel.

Richard Fierro, 45, said he was with his family and friends at Club Q on Saturday night when the suspect burst in and began spraying the club with automatic weapons.

Mr. Fierro told the New York Times his military training kicked in and he ran towards the shooter, grabbed his body armor from his back and pulled him to the ground.

“I knew I had to pull it down,” Mr. Fierro said.

A year and a half before he was arrested in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting that left five people dead, Anderson Lee Aldrich allegedly threatened his mother with a homemade bomb, forcing neighbors in surrounding homes to evacuate while the bomb squad and crisis negotiators spoke. with him. into submission.

But despite those scares, there is no record of prosecutors proceeding with felony kidnapping and menacing charges against Aldrich, or police or relatives trying to trigger Colorado’s “red flag” law that would have allowed authorities to use weapons and t -ammo seized says the man’s mother. which he had with him.

Gun control advocates say Aldrich’s June 2021 threat is an example of red flag law being ignored, with potentially deadly consequences. While it’s not clear the law could have prevented Saturday night’s attack — such gun seizures can be in place for as little as 14 days and extended by a judge in six-month increments — they say it could at least slow Aldrich down and raise his stake. profile with law enforcement.

Bernard Condon and Colleen Slevin have the story.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspected shooter who killed five people in an LGBT+ club in Colorado Springs over the weekend, previously told his family that they wanted to be the next mass murderer.

In June 2021, Aldrich, who identifies as non-binary, was arrested for threatening the grandmother, with whom they lived, with a homemade bomb, prompting a heavily armed police tactical team to respond and evacuate the surrounding homes.

Eventually, crisis negotiators were able to bring Aldrich in, and he was booked into the El Paso County Jail on two counts of felony threatening and three counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to the sheriff’s office.

A person with the same name and age was arrested in June 2021 after his mother told officers he threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons.

Colorado prosecutors declined to specifically confirm the link Sunday morning, saying the 2021 incident was “all part of the investigation and will be released as appropriate.”

The father of shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich said even though he has anti-gay views, there is no excuse for his child allegedly shooting people at an LGBT+ nightclub in Colorado Springs.

“I’m so sorry guys for your loss,” Aaron Brink, 48, said. “Politics aside, it’s human life. I am very sorry. My soul goes out to you.”

“Life is so fragile, and it’s precious,” he said. “Those people’s lives were precious.”