As revealed by a footnote in court filings, the alleged killer of five gay nightclub attendees claims to identify as "non-binary" and prefers to be addressed with the pronouns "they" and "them."
Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspect in the Colorado mass shooting that left five dead and injured at least 19 more, has, through his public defender, informed the court that he will be identifying himself as "Mx. Aldrich" in his filings in order to avoid association with any gender.
Speculation about the alleged shooter's motives has been filling the pages of online tabloids, but this recent revelation might deter some from assuming he acted out of hatred for the LGBT community. Others have speculated that Aldrich is further mocking his victims in his filings.
Aldrich was apprehended by Richard Fierro, an army veteran who was at the club celebrating a birthday and took advantage of a brief lull in the shooting to close in on the perpetrator.
"I tried to save people and it didn’t work for five of them,” he said. “These are all good people. I’m not a hero. I’m just some dude."
Aldrich had previously surrendered to law enforcement following a 2021 incident that ended with his mother claiming he threatened to kill her with a homemade bomb. That investigation was sealed and, as CNN reports, it's unclear why Aldrich wasn't prosecuted and convicted — which would have forbidden him from owning the firearm he used during Saturday's shooting.
Aldrich has been booked into the El Paso County Jail and charged with five counts of murder and five counts of committing a bias-motivated crime.
Thirteen of his victims remain hospitalized as of Tuesday.
Colorado, which has had 33 mass shootings since 2020, voted to repeal its death penalty that same year. Aldrich, who faces multiple counts of murder, will not face capital punishment for his crimes.
