‘Lock This Animal Away to the Depths of Hell’: Mass Shooter Who Killed 5 at Colorado LGBTQ Club Sentenced

The mass shooter who used an AR-style rifle to terrorize a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub – killing five people and injuring 19 others – pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted murder, according to authorities.

On June 26, Judge Michael McHenry sentenced 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the 2022 massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs.

In addition, McHenry sentenced Aldrich to 2,208 years in prison for the attempted murder charges. He also received a four-year sentence for bias-motivated charges, the equivalent of hate-crime charges in other states, CNN reported.

In a news conference after the sentencing, Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said, “That is the longest sentence ever achieved in the Fourth Judicial District and the second, to my knowledge, longest sentence ever achieved in the state of Colorado, second only to the sentence achieved in the Aurora theater shooting case."

During the victim’s impact statements at sentencing, CNN reported that Cheryl Norton, whose daughter Ashtin Gamblin was shot nine times but survived, said, “Please your honor, I’m pleading with you: Lock this animal away to the depths of hell."

In an audio recording played in court, the family of shooting victim Derrick Rump said, “We have no forgiveness in our heart for him. We hope karma comes back around to him as hard as it can and as often as it can. We hope he never has another day of peace.”

Colorado abolished the death penalty in 2022, so prosecutors could not seek the penalty against Aldrich.

However, officials stated a federal investigation has been opened into the mass shooting and remains ongoing. Capital punishment remains legal for federal cases, so the death penalty could be attached to a possible federal case against Aldrich.

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“I hope they do press charges and I hope we get the death penalty out of this,” said Jeff Aston, the father of shooting victim Daniel Aston.

Aston said he is still feeling “hollow” after the sentencing hearing, adding, “It’s not enough closure. Not even close.”