Details about the personality of the perpetrator of the shooting that killed five people last weekend at an LGBT+ club in Colorado began to emerge on Wednesday, including that the person identifies as non-binary, according to his lawyers.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, appeared in court on Wednesday.
The defendant remained seated, dressed in the orange jumpsuit of detainees in the United States, during a brief appearance by video during the hearing during which no charges were pronounced.
Anderson Lee Aldrich also did not enter a plea or not-guilty proceeding.
His two court-appointed lawyers said in court documents filed Tuesday that their client identified as non-binary, that is to say, does not recognize himself in either the masculine or feminine gender.
They added that Anderson Lee Aldrich used the non-gendered pronouns in English "they/them" ("iel" in French).
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The accused spoke only to confirm his name and that he had been notified of his rights.
He is being held on suspicion of murder.
According to the Colorado court system, the indictment should not be handed down for 10 days.
Other details have emerged, including his childhood marked by instability and drug-addicted parents.
According to US media, his birth name was Nicholas Brink and he was only two years old when his parents separated.
When he took the name Anderson Lee Aldrich as a teenager, his father Aaron Franklin Brink had already been arrested several times in California for drug possession and traffic violations.
Aaron Brink, who describes himself as a former porn star turned conservative Republican, told a local San Diego newspaper that his ex-wife, Laura Voepel, assured him several years ago that their child was dead.
“There are no gays in the Mormon Church”
This is what he believed until a few months ago, when he received a phone call from Anderson Lee Aldrich which degenerated into an argument, the latter uttering threats against his father. .
Aaron Franklin Brink had praised Anderson Lee Aldrich for his violent behavior as a child, he told CBS.
“I told him it worked.
It's instant and you have immediate results,” he said.
Aaron Brink also told the New York Times that he "expressed strong disapproval of gay people when his child was younger."
"There are no gays in the Mormon Church," assured CBS Aaron Franklin Brink, who however expressed compassion for the victims of the Colorado Springs massacre.
Mind-blowing.
The father (ex-porn actor) of the Colorado Springs shooter who killed 5 people: “They told me about the shooting.
I found out it's a gay club.
I got scared, I said 'Damn is he gay?'
but he is not.
Phew!
Via @NoLieWithBTC pic.twitter.com/87Csg2IqR1
— Théo Laubry 🇺🇸 (@TheoLaubry) November 23, 2022
Laura Voepel, the defendant's mother, also had trouble with the California police, including for drunkenness on the public highway and possession of illicit substances, according to the New York Times.
In 2012, she received a suspended sentence for setting fire to a mattress in the psychiatric hospital where she had been admitted, according to court documents cited by the Times.
Anderson Lee Aldrich could be prosecuted in particular for murders and hate crimes, and faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The hearing came four days after the massacre that left five dead and 18 injured at Club Q in Colorado Springs, a town in the Rocky Mountains of about 500,000 people.
A tentative date for a reappearance of Anderson Lee Aldrich has been set for December 6.
