Who Is Colorado Gay Club shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich?

 

Brink reportedly left Aldrich’s mother when Anderson was a baby, before taking up MMA and porn, under the alias ‘Dick Delaware.’

In 2009, when his fiancee attempted to convince him to stop using crystal meth, he also made appearances on the reality programs Divorce Court and Intervention, according to the New York Post.

According to state and federal court records, Brink has a lengthy criminal past, including convictions for violence against the mother of the alleged shooter, Laura Voepel, both before and after the suspect was born.

Aaron F. Brink received a protective order after being convicted of a misdemeanor battery in 2002; the order first prohibited him from seeing the suspect or his mother without a lawyer but later altered to allow supervised visitation with the youngster.

According to public records, the father was also given a two-and-a-half-year prison term for importing marijuana and violated his probation by testing positive for banned steroids while he was on supervised release.

Brink has a career record in MMA, across UFC and other fighting competitions, of 29 wins and 27 losses.

He was encouraged into doing porn by a producer at a party and began starring in films in 2002. He returned to the adult industry in 2019 after a lengthy hiatus.

Brink could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

 

A name change request from his child came a few months after Aldrich was allegedly the object of internet bullying.

The possibility that they were bullied in high school is raised by a website post from June 2015 that insulted a boy by the name of Nick Brink.

The article mocked Brink for their weight, lack of resources, and what it claimed to be an interest in Chinese cartoons while also including images that were identical to those of the shooting suspect.

Additionally, a YouTube channel under the name “TheAzzbackward” was created in Brink’s name and had an animation with the headline “Asian homosexual gets molested.”

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Just before midnight on November 19, Aldrich is thought to have opened fire in Club Q in Colorado Springs. They were eventually subdued by US Army veteran Richard M. Fierro as well as patron Thomas Jane and a drag performer.

Aldrich, according to the club’s owners, arrived with “tremendous weapons,” including an AR-15 rifle, six magazines of ammunition, and a handgun. Before the cops arrived, patrons knocked Aldrich to the ground with the revolver he was carrying.

The Daily Beast was informed by Xavier Kraus, 23, that Aldrich frequently frequented a shooting range where ‘fast fire’ was permitted. According to the neighbor, the suspect went to the shooting range with their mother, Laura Voepel.

Kraus also claimed that Aldrich frequently used the word “f****t” and occasionally used gay slurs when he was angry.

Kraus claimed that Aldrich admitted to using heroin and claimed to be addicted to opium in a separate interview with CBS News.

During that interview, Kraus discussed the suspect’s use of gay slurs saying: ‘It didn’t come across as true hate like, ‘I’m gonna go kill these people.”

He continued: ‘He was like, ‘This is all legal. I’m totally allowed to have this.’ It was an assault-rifle type gun.’

Aldrich allegedly threatened their mother with a homemade bomb a year and a half before to the shooting in Colorado Springs, causing neighbors in nearby homes to flee while the bomb squad and crisis negotiators persuaded him to turn himself up.

Aldrich fled the scene and went to the house where his mother was renting a room. They had been residing close by with their grandmother Pam Pullen and her husband Jonathan, but fled after making death threats against them.

On the Ring camera footage from that day, their mother Laura is seen welcoming her child into the house and assisting them with their suitcase. When they were inside, they recorded themselves wearing SWAT gear while live-broadcasting on their mother’s Facebook page.

‘This is your boy, I’ve got the f*****g s**theads outside. F*****g s**theads got their f*****g rifles out. If they breach I’m [going to] blow it to holy hell. Come on in boys, let’s f*****g see it!’ they said in the video.

While it’s not clear the law could have prevented Saturday night’s attack — such gun seizures can be in effect for as little as 14 days and extended by a judge in six-month increments — they say it could have at least slowed Aldrich and raised their profile with law enforcement.

Kraus, who said that he once considered Aldrich to be a friend, told CBS: ‘Apparently he was charged with kidnapping his mother. [Neither] his mother or his mom’s mom – they didn’t want any charges pressed against Andy.’

Documents associated with the threat are now sealed.

Kraus continued by claiming that Aldrich allegedly made mention of “firing his gun” in relation to a woman with whom he had problems.

And this was one of the times when his mother said, “Andy, oh my God, no, you can’t say that,” he said.

Kraus claimed that around three in the morning on Sunday, police called his house to inquire about Aldrich.

Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston, a 28-year-old trans man who worked as bartenders in the club, have been identified as two of the victims.

Aeron Laney, 24, was at the club for the first time, having just moved to Colorado Springs. She described a small club where everyone seemed to know each other, the kind of place she knew she would fit right in.

Looking regretfully at the bank of flowers that was spreading outside the club, she told AFP, “Everyone was just having a nice time and smiling and laughing.”

“I simply can’t see someone walking in and seeing people who are so content and joyful in their community and just wanting to end it,” the speaker said.

A few minutes prior to the shooter breaking in, Laney and her companion Justin Godwin fled.

Maybe the guy was there already. Was he simply planning it in the parking lot, for example? 25, Godwin, said. It’s simply terrifying,

US President Joe Biden condemned the attack, slamming violence against the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender women of color.

‘We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate,’ he said.

A worker at Club Q, which is billed as a ‘happening gay nightclub’ on its website, paid tribute to his two slain colleagues Sunday, sharing a picture of Rump and Aston to Facebook.

The post featured a photo of the pair behind Club Q’s bar, as well as an accompanying caption mourning the loss.

‘My boys are gone,’ the tribute read. ‘Plz (sic) take care of each other. I love you both so much.’

A friend of Rump also posted a tribute to his late friend, who, like Aston, was a member of the local LGBTQ community.

‘Two beautiful souls were taken from us last night,’ the poster wrote, adding that while he did not know Aston well, ‘both [would] be missed.’

The poster would go on to paint a picture of Rump from accounts of those who knew him, describing him as ‘an amazing person with a big heart.’

Another victim, Raymond Green Vance was the boyfriend of Kassy Fierro. She is the daughter of Rich Fierro, who was one of two men who ultimately managed to subdue gunman Anderson Lee Aldrich.

Kassy broke her knee as she was running for cover during the shooting.

I was there with my entire Colorado Springs family. I had to take action. Rich Fierro, 45, told the Washington Post on Monday that he was not intending to harm his family.

“I just want people to care for people, the hurt and deceased,” she said. Two of my closest pals are still in the hospital. They continue to require help and prayers.

Fierro and his wife Jessica attended the club while Fierro, a co-owner of Atrevida Beer and employee of the defense contractor Northrop Grumman, was there.

A married mother who was at the club with a friend when she was killed and a transgender woman who had recently moved to Colorado Springs were two of the victims still alive.

Ashley Paugh, pictured with her husband and 11-year-old daughter, was among those killer on Saturday. She was visiting the club with a friend when the gunman opened fire