Colorado taking pictures suspect’s earlier case dismissed for lack of witnesses, data present By Reuters

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) – The person accused of killing 5 folks at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado was arrested final yr on costs of threatening violence, however a decide dismissed that case as a result of the alleged victims declined to cooperate, a prosecutor mentioned on Thursday.

El Paso County District Lawyer Michael Allen offered particulars on the 2021 prosecution of Anderson Lee Aldrich after a decide ordered court docket recordsdata from final yr’s case unsealed on the request of Allen, the native sheriff and a number of other information shops.

Allen mentioned he needed to counter what he referred to as a “false narrative” in regards to the 2021 case suggesting the authorities didn’t pursue it or missed a chance to stop the lethal taking pictures almost three weeks in the past.

  Aldrich, 22, is being held with out bail on greater than 300 counts together with homicide, tried homicide, hate crimes and assault stemming from the Nov. 19 rampage at Membership Q in Colorado Springs, which killed 5 and wounded 22.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned Aldrich had been arrested in June 2021 over allegations that the suspect had threatened to detonate a bomb and hurt a member of the family.

Questions in regards to the end result of that arrest went unanswered underneath a Colorado legislation barring authorities from discussing a case through which costs are dismissed or by no means formally introduced.

At Thursday’s information convention, Allen mentioned that after initially giving statements implicating Aldrich within the 2021 case, his mom and grandparents testified on the suspect’s behalf for a bail discount.

After victims declined to testify for the prosecution, the decide threw out the case, Allen mentioned.

Makes an attempt by Reuters to succeed in Aldrich’s mom and grandparents for remark weren’t instantly profitable.

Allen mentioned deputies seized a handgun and a rifle from Aldrich within the 2021 case, and people weapons have been nonetheless in police custody when the nightclub bloodbath occurred. A distinct rifle and handgun have been recovered from the Membership Q taking pictures.

Aldrich is due again in court docket in February for a scheduled three-day preliminary listening to.

(This story has been refiled so as to add dropped phrases in paragraphs 5, 7 and eight)