Questions about red flag law raised in Club Q shooting case

The Colorado Springs community is mourning the loss of five lives taken by a gunman who entered an LGBTQ club and opened fire with a rifle.

"We know there is hate in this community. Many of you have experienced it tonight. I say to you, 'they will not win,'" a woman told a crowd gathered at a memorial for the victims.

Many though are also asking "why?" And could more have been done to prevent it?

Questions that stem from information about the suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich's previous interaction with local law enforcement, including a SWAT situation that ended with his arrest and charges for felony menacing and kidnapping.

That case was dismissed for reasons that are not clear and with that, any record of it having been sealed from the public, limiting what local officials can say.

"That statute requires us to say, in response to questions about it, that no such record exists," 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen told reporters.

That previous incident, however, resulted in the evacuation of an entire neighborhood. Headlines from the time have preserved evidence of its existence.

Aldrich had also live-streamed the encounter. That video shows him pacing around in body armor with what appears to be a gun on the bed, fueling concerns about how he was able to access weapons a year later and if the state's red flag law was used to try to prevent it. 

While Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers supports the use of the law when criteria are met, he thought questions about its use in this instance were premature.

"I would caution against the assumption that the circumstances of this case would lead to the application of the red flag law," he said during a press conference Monday.

Chris Knoepke is an assistant professor of cardiology with a focus on psychology at the University of Colorado. 

"These are designed for situations where there is a lot of risk a person becomes sort of known to law enforcment," he said.

Knoepke has been researching Colorado's use of that law since it was enacted.

What he's found is it's often underutilized by law enforcement and is now working on how best to train those agencies on its use.

"They are a tool for law enforcement or others where a law hasn't necessarily been broken, but there is still concern for the risk of the individual and their access to firearms," He said 

Whether it was or could have been used for the suspected gunman remains unclear for now.

Whether it could have saved lives, the community may never know. 

Investigators in this case are not saying how the suspect got the rifle or the handgun used in the shooting 

CBS News Colorado has also learned the suspect's mother has had encounters with law enforcement including warrants for arson in Texas, as well as arrests in California.

Colorado Springs police say she has not been cooperating with their investigation.