Tumultuous past surrounds the suspect in Colorado Springs Club Q shooting
As the suspect arrested in the deadly rampage at Club Q made an initial court appearance, pieces of the accused shooter's past are slowly emerging.
As the 22-year-old arrested in the deadly rampage at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club made an initial court appearance Wednesday and was ordered held without bond, pieces of the suspect's past are slowly emerging, suggesting a volatile upbringing and a fractured family life.
Anderson Lee Aldrich's father said in an interview Tuesday with the CBS affiliate KFMB in San Diego that he believed Aldrich had died by suicide several years ago and that only this year did he learn otherwise.
Aaron Brink told the news station that he had mourned the loss of his child and had gone through a meltdown.
Brink said his ex-wife told him in 2016 that Aldrich was dead. Aldrich was born Nicholas Franklin Brink before a petition for a change of name was filed in 2016. (In a court filing Tuesday, Aldrich's defense team referred to the suspect as "Mx. Aldrich," noting in footnotes that their client is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. There was no further elaboration, and Aldrich's defense lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.)
According to court documents filed in Bexar County, Texas, the name change was requested because Aldrich, who was turning 16, "wishes to protect himself and his future from any connections to birth father and his criminal history. Father has had no contact with minor for several years." The filing was first reported by The Washington Post.
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