Judge rules there is enough evidence to take Club Q suspected shooter to trial

At a news conference on Thursday, 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen was pretty tight-lipped about their case against Anderson Lee Aldrich, the person suspected of carrying out the Club Q shooting last November, but he did say they are preparing to take this case to trial. 

"There's always a tension that exists in cases like this in which the public and the media want more information than what we can realistically give," he said. 

Thursday morning in Colorado Springs, a judge ruled that there is probable cause to support charging Anderson Lee Aldrich with more than 300 charges connected to the shooting at Club Q after a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. The judge also found that they can be charged with a hate crime based on web pages Aldrich was involved with. 

"It was a website that the defendant was an administrator to that there was a video that had been posted to that website that was characterized as a neo-Nazi propaganda video," said Allen. 

The DA didn't say much more, but in a report, the Anti-Defamation League says the site was a bare-bones 4chan look-alike called freespeechtube and only a few people ever posted to the site. They also claim the site displayed on its front page a video of white supremacist propaganda designed to encourage people to engage in violent attacks. 

The ADL also claims Aldrich tried to live stream the attack on Club Q to a different site. Evidence submitted by the prosecution shows a hat with a cell phone taped to it.  

The defense for Aldrich presented evidence they visited the club before the night of the shooting. They also submitted pictures showing evidence of prescription and illicit drug use, but Allen says it would be purely speculation at this point to try to determine what Aldrich's possible defense may be. 

The next step for Aldrich will be a status conference in March and Arraignment in May.