Public defenders for the suspect in the mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBT nightclub said in a court filing that their client identifies as nonbinary and goes by “they/them” pronouns, the New York Times reported. Far left media outlets and some elected Democrats immediately attempted to brand the murders as an act of far-right terrorism. Many even listed supposed Trump-supporting relatives of the suspected shooter as “evidence” of their false claims.
The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, is facing multiple murder and hate crime charges over the shooting at Club Q last weekend that left five people dead. The shooter is scheduled for a court appearance on via video conference link from jail on Wednesday.
Prior to the suspect’s “nonbinary” identity becoming public knowledge, leftists immediately attempted to frame the rampage as an act of right-wing terrorism. Others, including President Biden, immediately pushed for gun control.
Within hours of the news breaking, President Biden again renewed his push for an “assault weapons” ban. “Earlier this year, I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly three decades, in addition to taking other historic actions,” Biden said of bipartisan gun restriction measures passed in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. “But we must do more. We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets.”
The renewed push came just days after Biden pushed an “assault weapons” ban in response to a shooting at the University of Virginia that left three people dead. In that incident, the shooter was known to law enforcement and used a handgun, though the Biden Administration still used it as a talking point against long guns.
Others baselessly pinned the attack on “stochastic terrorism,” pointing specifically to the Libs of TikTok account. Some even pointed out that the shooter is supposedly related to a local Trump-supporting politician, citing this as “evidence” of a far-right hate crime.
It looks like the reports about the hate that the Colorado shooter was raised around are true. The intersection of hate, guns, and MAGA is a deadly mix. As this shooter is investigating, I hope law enforcement pursues this all the way up the family tree.https://t.co/3DwlpO4IPV
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) November 21, 2022
BOMBSHELL: The 22-year-old Colorado Springs mass shooter is the grandson of GOP California State Assemblyman @RandyVoepel from San Diego, who is also a stanch supporter of the 1/6 insurrection.
— . (@PoliticsVerse) November 21, 2022
New: The Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter is reportedly the grandson of MAGA Republican representative Randy Voepel, who supported the January 6 insurrection and compared it to the Revolutionary War.
Source: https://t.co/f5PonSQKVP pic.twitter.com/rLcIf0af7E
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) November 21, 2022
NEW: Media reporting that the 22-year-old Colorado Springs mass shooting suspect is the grandson of California State Assemblyman Randy Voepel – a San Diego-area Republican who made headlines in 2021 after comparing January 6 to "Lexington and Concord.” https://t.co/yUJ1FYgUph
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 20, 2022
