(Los Angeles) The perpetrator of a killing in an LGBT+ nightclub in the western United States was indicted for a homophobic crime, the federal prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday, more than a year after the events and while He is already serving a life sentence for these murders.
Armed with a pistol and an assault rifle, Anderson Lee Aldrich opened fire on November 19, 2022 in “Club Q” in Colorado Springs, killing five and injuring 18, just after a drag queen show .
This 23-year-old young man was sentenced to life imprisonment in June by the Colorado courts, but only for murder and attempted murder, not for the possible homophobic nature of his crime.
The shooter, who has identified himself as non-binary since the start of this case, has until now always denied having been motivated by hatred.
But a new investigation led by the FBI “also asserts that Mr. Aldrich committed this attack because of the sexual orientation and gender identity, real or perceived” of his targets, according to the press release from the federal prosecutor’s office.
“It is expected that the accused agrees to plead guilty to all counts” of this new federal procedure, adds the prosecution.
According to local media, the agreement to plead guilty would contain a clause to allow the killer to avoid the death penalty.
During the trial in Colorado, the prosecution notably pointed out that Mr. Aldrich administered a website on which a neo-Nazi video had been published, and that there were no traces of an expression of his identity not -binary before the massacre.
The bloodbath had revived the fears of the American LGBT+ community, six years after the worst killing in its history: on June 12, 2016, an American of Afghan origin killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, in Florida.