COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The preliminary hearing for the person accused of the mass shooting at Club Q last year that killed five people and injured several others got underway in an El Paso County courtroom Wednesday morning.
Prosecutors are laying out enough evidence to support their allegation that it was a hate crime when 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, who is nonbinary, opened fire in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub on Nov. 19, 2022.
The suspect is charged with more than 300 counts, including hate crimes, and the hearing is scheduled for three days.
READ MORE: All Denver7 coverage on the Club Q shooting
Unlike the other allegations, such as murder and attempted murder, hate crime charges require prosecutors to present evidence of a motive — that Aldrich was driven by bias, either wholly or in part.
Aldrich used racial slurs while gaming, posted a rifle scope on a gay pride parade and used another slur when referring to someone who was gay, Detective Rebecca Joines testified on the first day of a three-day trial. She also said the suspect ran a neo-Nazi website.
Some victims in the courtroom teared up when Aldrich appeared in Judge Michael McHenry’s court at the El Paso County Judicial Complex in downtown Colorado Springs.
Here are the latest updates from Denver7’s Colette Bordelonwho was in court covering the hearing:
