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Colorado shooting suspect’s 2021 case dropped for lack of cooperation : NPR


In this image taken from El Paso District Court video, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, center, sits during the trial in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2022.

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In this image taken from El Paso District Court video, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, center, sits during the trial in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2022.

AP

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The suspect in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting has been reduced to a 2021 bomb threat after family members persecuted in the incident refused to cooperate, according to attorneys. county and court documents were not sealed on Thursday.

The charges were dropped even though authorities found a “bathtub” filled with bomb-making chemicals and subsequently received warnings from other relatives that suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich was certain to do. injured or killed several grandparents if released, according to undisclosed documents.

In a letter last November to Judge Robin Chittum of the State District Court, relatives painted a picture of someone isolated, violent, jobless and given $30,000. , mostly used to buy 3D printers to make guns.

El Paso District Attorney Michael Allen said Aldrich tried to reclaim the confiscated guns after the threat, but authorities did not return the weapons.

Allen spoke hours after Chittum revealed the case, which included allegations that Aldrich had threatened to kill his grandparents and become “the next serial killer” more than a year earlier. nightclub attack kills 5 people.

Deflect the previous case

The suspect’s grandparents and mother had previously tainted the case by evading prosecutors’ efforts to serve subpoenas on them, leading to the dismissal of the charges after defense attorneys said speedy trial rules were at risk, Allen said.

Testifying at the hearing two months after the threat, the suspect’s mother and grandmother described Aldrich in court as a “lovely” and “sweet” young man who did not deserve jail time, prosecutors said.

The former district attorney who was replaced by Allen told The Associated Press he has faced many cases in which people have evaded subpoenas, but the inability to serve the Aldrich family seems extraordinary. .

Dan May said of the suspect’s family: “I didn’t know they were on the run, but if they were, it would be a shame for them.” “This is an extreme example of manipulation that has clearly led to something terrible.”

Aldrich’s attorney, public attorney Joseph Archambault, argued against the release of the document, saying Aldrich’s right to a fair trial was paramount.

“This will ensure there is no presumption of innocence,” Archambault said.

The paternal grandmother’s mother-in-law wrote to the court in November 2021 saying that Alrich continued to be a danger and should continue to be detained. The letter also said police tried to hold Aldrich for 72 hours after an earlier response home, but the grandmother intervened.

Robert Pullen and Jeanie Streltzoff wrote: “We believe that my brother and his wife will be harmed physically or further if Anderson is released. In addition to being detained, we believe that Anderson should be released. therapy and counseling”. They said Aldrich punched holes in the wall of his grandparents’ home in Colorado and broke the windows, and that the grandparents “had to sleep in the bedroom with the door locked” and a bat next to the bed.

The turbulent teen years in San Antonio

The letter said that during Aldrich’s teenage years in San Antonio, Aldrich assaulted his grandfather and took him to the emergency room with undisclosed injuries. According to the letter, the grandfather then lied to police out of fear of Aldrich, saying that the suspect could not get along with his classmates when he was young, so he was homeschooled.

The judge’s order came after news organizations, including the AP, sought to unsealing the documents, and two days after the AP released portions of the documents that had been verified with a real official. law enforcement.

Aldrich, 22, was arrested in June 2021 on charges of threatening to evacuate about 10 homes. The documents describe how Aldrich told his frightened grandparents about weapons and bomb-making materials in his grandparents’ basement and vowed not to let them interfere with his plan to make Aldrich “the next serial killer.” follow” and “out into the fire”.

Aldrich – who uses the pronoun they/last and non-binary, according to their attorney – hides in their mother’s house during the confrontation with the SWAT teams and warns of having armor-piercing bullets and determined to “go to the end”. Investigators then ransacked the home of the mother and grandparents, where they found and seized handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, body armor, magazines, gas masks, and a tank full of possible chemicals. create explosives when combined, the documents show.

A sheriff’s report said there were earlier calls to law enforcement referring to Aldrich’s “escalating murder” but did not elaborate. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office did not immediately provide additional information.

Attempts to serve subpoena failed

The grandparents’ 911 call resulted in the suspect’s arrest, and Aldrich being sent to prison on suspicion of felony intimidation and kidnapping. But after Aldrich’s bond was set at $1 million, Aldrich’s mother and grandparents managed to lower the bond to $100,000 with conditions including therapy.

According to Allen, the case was dropped when attempts to serve subpoenas by family members to testify against Aldrich failed. Allen said both grandparents moved out of state, complicating the subpoena process.

The documents show that Pamela Pullen’s grandmother said through her attorney that there was a subpoena in her mailbox, but it was never given to her personally or properly served.

“Ultimately, they won’t testify against Andy,” Xavier Kraus, an old friend and neighbor of Aldrich’s, told the AP.

Kraus said he had text messages from Aldrich’s mother saying she and the suspect were “hiding from someone.” He later discovered the family had evaded subpoenas. “Aldrich’s words were, ‘They have nothing. No proof,'” Kraus said.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said a protective order against the suspect in effect until July 5 prevented Aldrich from possessing a firearm.

Kraus said that shortly after the charges were dropped, Aldrich began bragging that they had recovered the guns, adding that Aldrich showed him two assault-style rifles, armor and ammunition on fire.

Aldrich was “really excited about it,” Kraus said, and slept with a rifle nearby under the blanket.

Questions remain about Colorado’s use of ‘red flags’ laws

Relatives of Aldrich’s grandmother said after the suspect was arrested in 2021 that she had recently given Aldrich $30,000, “most of which was used to buy two 3D printers – which he did making firearms,” ​​according to the documents in the case.

Aldrich’s testimony during the bombing raised questions about whether authorities could use Colorado’s “red flag” laws to seize weapons from suspects.

El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder released a statement Thursday saying there was no need to apply for a red flag order because Aldrich’s weapons were confiscated during the arrest and Aldrich was unable to purchase new weapons.

The sheriff also dismissed the idea that he could ask for a red flag order once the case is dismissed. The bombing was too old to argue that there was a danger in the near future, Elder said, and the evidence was sealed a month after rebuttal and was unusable.

“There is no legal mechanism” to get a gun after dismissing the case, the sheriff said.

Under Colorado law, records are automatically sealed when a case is dropped and defendants are not prosecuted, as happened in Aldrich’s 2021 case. Once sealed, officials cannot admit that the records exist, and the initial process of unsealing the documents took place behind closed doors without a record of oversight and an unnamed judge. .

Chittum said the public’s “profound” concern over the case goes beyond Aldrich’s privacy. The judge added that scrutiny of judicial cases is “foundational to our system of government.”

During Thursday’s hearing, Aldrich sat at the defense desk sometimes looking straight ahead or down and seemingly showing no reaction when their mother’s attorney asked for the case to be kept private.

Aldrich is formally charged on Tuesday with 305 countsincluding hate crimes and murder, in the November 19 shooting at Club Q, a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs, which is largely conservative.

Investigators say Aldrich walked in just before midnight with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and started shooting during a drag queen’s birthday celebration. Patrons prevented the murder by knocking the suspect to the ground and knocking Aldrich into submission, witnesses said.

Authorities said 17 people were wounded by bullets but survived.

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