The suspect in a mass shooting that killed five people at an LGBTQ+ nightclub has been sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, in a United States courtroom. Earlier on Monday, the suspect, 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, pleaded guilty to five charges of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder, as part of a deal with prosecutors. Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two hate crimes. The plea deal averted the possibility of a prolonged and emotional trial, coming nearly seven months after the November attack on the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Aldrich, who stormed into Club Q wearing body armor and carrying several weapons, killed five people and injured nearly two dozen before being subdued by the heroic actions of patrons who wrestled him to the ground. The attack brought attention to violence and increasingly hostile rhetoric across the US against members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender people. Club Q was known as a safe haven for the local LGBTQ+ population. It also drew comparisons to the 2016 shooting at Pulse, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where an attacker killed 49 people.
