The suspect accused of killing five people in a mass shooting last year at a Colorado LGBTQ club ran a neo-Nazi website and used gay and racial slurs while gaming online, a police detective testified Wednesday.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, used racial slurs while gaming, posted a rifle scope on a gay pride parade and used another slur when referring to someone who was gay, Colorado Springs police Detective Rebecca Joines testified on the first day of a three-day hearing to determine if evidence is strong enough to proceed with charges against the suspect.
Xavier Kraus, a former neighbor and friend of the suspect, told NBC News in an exclusive interview last year that an FBI agent asked him about two websites at an FBI field office in Colorado Springs.
One of the websites, a forum-type “free speech” site where people have anonymously posted racist and antisemitic memes, language and videos, was created by the suspect, Kraus said he told investigators.
Kraus, who, according to public records, lived one door away from Aldrich in a Colorado Springs apartment complex, said he told the FBI that Aldrich made the free speech website in late spring or early summer. Kraus said Aldrich described the site as “a platform where people could go and post pretty much whatever they want.”
During the hearing, new details also emerged about the heroic actions of the two men credited with putting an end to the Nov. 19 attack at Club Q.
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Thomas James grabbed the barrel of the suspect’s rifle after shots rang out in an attempt “to disarm the shooter,” blistering his hand because it was so hot, Detective Ashton Gardner told the court.
“There is an initial struggle over the rifle … that was used,” he said.
James told investigators that he had fallen to the floor with Aldrich, who pulled out a handgun and fired two shots. James was hit in the torso, Gardner told the courtroom.
He subdued the…
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