Suspect in Colorado Gay Bar Shooting Previously Arrested for Bomb Threat, But Charges Were Dropped

Anderson Lee Aldrich, the 22-year-old gunman who allegedly killed five patrons in a Colorado gay bar Saturday night, was arrested for making a bomb threat in 2021.

According to an El Paso County press release from June of last year, law enforcement responded to a bomb threat involving Aldrich and his mother in a neighborhood in southeast Colorado Springs.

“The reporting party said her son [Aldrich] was threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition,” the police statement reads.

The threat led local police to evacuate ten nearby homes and send out “an emergency text notification” to houses within a quarter-mile radius, warning residents of the unfolding situation.

After a negotiation unit successfully coaxed Aldrich to voluntarily leave his mother’s house, explosives experts searched the property but were unable to find “any explosive devices.”

Aldrich was eventually booked on two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping. But for some reason, those charges were eventually dropped, Reuters reported.

National Review has reached out to Colorado’s 4th judicial district attorney to clarify why charges were dropped against Aldrich following the bomb threat.

Leslie Bowman, 41, who rented out a room to Alrich’s mother when the bomb threat was made, confirmed that prosecutors declined to pursue charges against him and said she wasn’t surprised to learn he had carried out the shooting.

“When I heard it was him who did the shooting, I was surprised but not surprised at the same time — just knowing what he did before,” she said.

Aldrich sent a letter to the editor of the Gazette, the Colorado Springs paper, in August demanding the deletion of an online article about the bomb-threat incident.

“There is absolutely nothing there, the case was dropped, and I’m asking you either remove or update the story. . . . The entire case was dismissed,” Aldrich wrote.

The revelation of the bomb threat comes on the heels of the devastating attack on Club Q in Colorado Springs that left at least five dead and over two dozen wounded. The bar’s official Facebook account released a public statement early Sunday morning confirming the initial reports.

“Club Q is devastated by the senseless attack on our community. Our prays [sic] and thoughts are with all the victims and their families and friends. We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack,” the post reads.

New developments continue to shed more light on the attack. According to the Colorado Springs police chief, several club-goers struggled with Aldrich, slowing down the carnage and ultimately saving lives.

Colorado officials from across the political spectrum have denounced the violence. Senator John Hickenlooper (D., Colo.) called the shooting “an unspeakable act” while Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who narrowly won her House race last week, said the attack was “absolutely awful.”

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office told NPR that a closer look at the bomb threat would be included in the broader investigation into the shooting currently being conducted.

Aldrich now faces five charges of murder as well as five counts of a bias-motivated crime causing bodily harm, according to the online docket posted Monday by the county.