Posted on by Randy Slovacek

Club Q Shooter Blames Attack On Steroid Use

Club Q Shooter Blames Attack On Steroid Use
Anderson Lee Aldrich (mugshot via Colorado Springs Police Dept)

Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspect in the deadly Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, has issued their first public statements through a series of phone calls with the Associated Press.

In their interviews with the AP, Aldrich blamed steroid use for fueling the violent attack on the gay nightclub.

Aldrich faces over 300 charges for the November 19, 2022, invasion of Club Q nightclub when five victims lost their lives and 17 were wounded.

Yesterday I reported that Aldrich is expected to strike a plea deal that would probably include a life sentence in prison but would avoid the death penalty.

The AP wrote to Aldrich months ago asking for an interview. Aldrich’s initial response was to ask to be paid for the interview. The AP declined.

I’m guessing in light of recent progress made on the case, Aldrich changed their mind and wanted to get his own statements out to the public.

Over a series of six 15-minute calls from jail, here’s some of what Aldrich had to say:

“Nothing’s ever going to bring back their loved ones,” Aldrich told the AP. “People are going to have to live with injury that can’t be repaired.”

Asked why the attack occurred: “I don’t know. That’s why I think it’s so hard to comprehend that it did happen. I’m either going to get the death penalty federally or I will go to prison for life, that’s a given. I don’t know if this is common knowledge but I was on a very large plethora of drugs. I had been up for days. I was abusing steroids. … I’ve finally been able to get off that crap I was on.”

Asked if the attack was motivated by hate: “That’s completely off-base.”

Following their arrest, Aldrich announced they are nonbinary. Some have viewed that declaration as a means to avoid hate crime convictions.

Some survivors have listened to recordings of the phone calls and found Aldrich’s vague statements to be nothing more than a calculation to avoid the death penalty.

“No one has sympathy for him,” said Michael Anderson, who was bartending at Club Q when the shooting broke out. “This community has to live with what happened, with collective trauma, with PTSD, trying to grieve the loss of our friends, to move past emotional wounds and move past what we heard, saw and smelled.”

Read more at AP News.