The assailant who murdered five people at a gay nightclub in Colorado last year has admitted to both murder and attempted murder.
On November 19, 2022, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, started shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs with an assault rifle.
Club patrons put a stop to the shooting by holding the assailant down until the police arrived.
Ages of the five victims ranged from 22 to 40. An additional 17 people sustained gunshot wounds.
Aldrich, who is non-binary and uses the pronouns they and them, will spend the rest of their life in prison after agreeing to a plea deal with the prosecution.
Aldrich pleaded "no contest" to several accusations of committing crimes motivated by bias at the hearing on Monday.
They admitted in court that they "intentionally and after deliberate" caused the victims' deaths and that they "substantially took steps" to commit murder in the case of those who were injured.
Following the plea, victims of some of the family members addressed the court.
One of them was Sabrina Aston, the deceased Daniel Aston's mother, a bartender at Club Q.
I'll never forget the heinous crime you committed, she said.
Aldrich remained emotionless as the families spoke, keeping his eyes straight ahead.
Aldrich recently stated in an interview with the Associated Press that they felt compelled to "take responsibility for what happened.". On top of that, they said they were "on a very large plethora of drugs.".
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