[NYPost] The alleged Colorado nightclub shooter wanted to be "the next mass killer" — and whined that their grandparents’ plans to move down south would ruin a plot to build a bomb, according to records from a previous arrest.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, flew into a rage and threatened to kill their grandparents when they told them they had sold their house and planned to move to Florida in June 2021, according to records obtained by KKTV 11 News.
The incident ended with the SWAT team swarming Aldrich’s mother’s home, more than a year before Aldrich allegedly stormed an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs and killed five people.
The results in the 2021 bomb-threat incident are under seal and it’s not clear if the charges were dismissed.
However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
advocates are questioning why Aldrich still had access to deadly weapons after the arrest. Colorado "red flag" laws may have removed guns that were in their possession, advocates have said.
Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary according to their attorneys, was living with their grandparents on June 18, 2021 when they dropped the news of their pending move.
The grandmother later told cops Aldrich said they were "going to be the next mass killer and has been collecting ammunition, firearms, bullet-proof body armor and storing it in the basement of the residence."
The grandchild had bragged about wanting to "go out in a blaze" and had started making what the grandmother believed was a bomb, according to the records obtained by KKTV. Aldrich complained the move would interfere with their "bomb making" and "plans to conduct a mass shooting and bombing," the records stated.
Aldrich claimed the bomb would be powerful enough to blow up a police department or federal building.
It wasn’t the first cause of concern for Aldrich, whose grandparents said had made "homicidal threats" toward them and others. At a family meeting about the planned move, Aldrich loaded a gun in view of them and told them "you guys die today.
"I’m loaded and ready. You’re not calling anyone," Aldrich said, according to the arrest record.
Adrich downed vodka and said they needed the booze for "what he’s about to do" before they went to their mother’s house nearby. Cops were alerted by a 911 call and contacted Aldrich’s mother, who wasn’t cooperative and later texted her landlord to say Aldrich was in the house.
When a SWAT team showed up to the residence, Aldrich’s mother came out of the home saying "He let me go."
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office put out a news release on the arrest, but the results of the case remain unclear with Aldrich telling the Gazette in August that their story on the arrest was "damaging" to their reputation.
"The entire case was dismissed," Aldrich allegedly told the Gazette, adding they had spent two months in jail after the arrest.
Aldrich hasn’t been formally charged but may face a murder and hate-crime rap for the mass shooting at Club Q on Saturday. In a court filing Tuesday, defense attorneys said Aldrich identified as nonbinary and used the pronouns they/them.
The accused appeared in a video court hearing on Wednesday, visibly dazed and battered, and the presiding judge saying "could the defendant please state his name?" The prosecutor also referred to Aldrich as "he" during a press briefing after the hearing.
Hate crime charges would require proving the suspect was motivated by bias, such as against the victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Meanwhile,
...back at the bunker, his Excellency called the chief of staff and complained that the artillery was keeping him awake...
in another bizarre twist, Aldrich’s estranged father has been identified as an ex-con former MMA fighter-turned-porn star, it was revealed Tuesday.
Aaron Franklin Brink, 51, entered the mixed martial arts cage in the ’90s, clocking up 21 victories over the 10 years of his fighting career — including during appearances with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting, MMA Junkie wrote in a profile.
Brink also took up porn acting at age 27 under the name Dick Delaware, the Denver Gazette reported.
The troubled dad also has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for battery against Aldrich’s mom, Laura Voepel, both before and after the suspect was born, according to state and federal court records.
It was also revealed that the suspected shooter’s name was changed more than six years ago after filing a legal petition in Texas seeking to "protect himself" from a dad with a criminal history.
Aldrich was known as Nicholas Franklin Brink until 2016 when a petition was submitted on Brink’s behalf by their grandparents, who were their legal guardians at the time.
"Minor 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 petition stated.
The request for a name change came months after Aldrich was apparently targeted by online bullying.
Last year, Aldrich was arrested after their mother reported her child threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons.
Ring doorbell video obtained by the News Agency that Dare Not be Named shows Aldrich arriving at their mother’s front door with a big black bag the day of the bomb threat.
Authorities later said no explosives were found, but gun control advocates have asked why police didn’t use the state’s "red flag" laws to seize weapons she said her child had.
Authorities said the attack was halted by two club patrons including Richard Fierro, who told reporters that he took a handgun from Aldrich, hit him with it and pinned him down with help from another person.
Fierro, a former Army major who now owns a local brewery, said he was celebrating a birthday with family members when the suspect "came in shooting." Fierro said he ran at the suspect, who was wearing some type of body armor, and pulled him down before severely beating him until police arrived.
Fierro said he didn't know if the suspect spoke to him when he subdued him.
"I was cussing at him, I don't care what he said to me. I'm going to see that guy in court, and he's going to see who did him," Fierro said.
A second person, identified by police as Thomas James, also helped subdue the shooter, but he has not yet spoken publicly. Fierro said a third person also helped — a performer at the club who Fierro said kicked the suspect in the head. 
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