COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The suspect accused of killing five people at an LGBTQ nightclub told his grandparents months before the attack that “you die today” if they persisted in telling police about their intent to build a bomb and injure others, according to documents unsealed Thursday.
The documents, unsealed by a judge earlier today, shed light on the investigation into Anderson Aldrich after the suspect’s family reported to police that the suspect was preparing a bomb and threatened them in 2021 – around 17 months before the attack.
“You die today and I take you with me,” Aldrich reportedly told the grandparents in June 2021, according to the documents. “I’m loaded and ready. You don’t call anyone.”
The files provide insight into the division between family members as some fought to protect Aldrich from prosecution while others expressed concern that he was dangerous and could kill people.
“We are certain that if (Aldrich) is released he will injure or murder my brother and his wife,” the suspect’s great-uncle and aunt, Robert Pullen and Jeanie Streltzoff, wrote to a judge after Aldrich was charged with five crimes in the bombing. case of threat.
Ultimately, the county’s chief prosecutor said his office was forced to drop the charges because Aldrich’s family would not cooperate. The case has raised questions about whether authorities could have used Colorado’s “red flag” law to seize the suspect’s weapons, which El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen called a hypothetical that might not have stopped the violence at Club Q.
“The only way to avoid tragedy is for the witnesses to actually come to trial, testify, and someone to be convicted,” Allen said. “Again, he has not been convicted in this case.”
Docs: Suspect threatened to kill grandparents after moving to Florida
Unsealed documents show the incident began on June 18, 2021, after Aldrich’s grandmother, Pamela Pullen, told police that Aldrich was working to create a bomb in their basement .
When Pullen and her husband, Jonathan Pullen, told Aldrich they had sold their Colorado home and planned to move to Florida, Aldrich threatened the grandparents and said they couldn’t move because it would “interfere with its bomb-making,” the unsealed documents say.
Aldrich then pointed a gun at them and said, “You die today, and I’m taking you with me. I’m loaded and ready. You’re not calling anyone,” the documents say.
Aldrich told their grandparents that they planned to “conduct a mass shooting and bombing,” the affidavit states. Aldrich held the grandparents hostage in their home until they promised not to move. When Aldrich returned to the basement, the couple fled the house, records show.
Aldrich then fled to their mother’s home where a SWAT confrontation ensued after Aldrich threatened to use explosives, authorities said. The incident forced neighbors to evacuate and police crisis negotiators to respond before the suspect surrendered. Aldrich was arrested for threat and kidnapping.
On Thursday, Allen said two firearms were seized in the case after authorities executed a search warrant at the home, including a 9mm “ghost pistol” and an MM-15 rifle. In Colorado, he said, it’s not illegal to own a ghost gun, which is defined as a weapon without a serial number, making it untraceable. But it’s illegal to sell the guns to others, Allen said.
Both firearms remain in the custody of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office denied a request by Aldrich to retrieve the weapons after the case was sealed, Allen said.
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Mom tried to hide Aldrich from the authorities before the threats of explosives
After the incident at Aldrich’s grandparents’ home, Aldrich fled to their mother’s house.
She was contacted by police about the incident and authorities said she was uncooperative, refusing to answer any questions about Aldrich’s whereabouts, the documents show.
In an affidavit, a deputy said screenshots of text messages between Aldrich’s mother, Laura Voepel, and her landlord showed she was hiding the suspect in her home. She wrote that she “needed to make sure the cops didn’t come looking for her son,” according to the documents.
The SWAT team responded to Voepel’s house and Aldrich released his mother, who was inside the house with him, to a SWAT team.
Aldrich, who was wearing tactical gear, told authorities outside they had to return because they had tannerite, an explosive mixture, inside the house. They said they would shoot through the walls, the unsealed documents show.
During the confrontation, Aldrich told a SWAT team sergeant: “[I’m] will die today,” the records say.
Aldrich’s relatives: if released, he will ‘injure or kill’
In a letter sent to the judge dated November 29, 2021, Aldrich’s great-uncle and great-aunt Robert Pullen and Jeanie Streltzoff wrote that their great-nephew had been troubled for most of his life despite the best efforts of Aldrich’s grandparents to raise and protect him.
They said Aldrich repeatedly attacked and threatened his grandfather, “but he was too scared to confront” Aldrich. Pullen mentioned a time when Jonathan Pullen had to go to the ER while they were living in San Antonio, Texas, but Pullen lied to doctors about what happened “because he was afraid of anger ( of Aldrich) if arrested by the police.”
The letter from Aldrich’s relatives contained more than a dozen bullet points describing Aldrich’s behavior, including Strelzhoff telling her husband that she had given him $30,000, “much of which went to his purchase of two 3D printers – on which he made guns. One of them came home and was fired,” the uncle and aunt wrote.
The couple said in the 2021 letter that if Aldrich were released then, Aldrich would “injure or murder my brother and his wife.”
The couple also said they believe Aldrich “needs therapy and counseling.”
Judge unseals bomb threat files, citing public interest in case
Hours earlier, District Court Judge Robin Chittum had ruled that the records would be made public, saying the public interest in the case “far outweighs” the right to privacy and concerns about contamination from Aldrich’s prospective jury panel. The judge said the public interest “is so great that I would even say it is profound”.
The judge added that the review of court cases is “fundamental to our system of government”.
“The only way for this review to happen is for it to be unsealed,” Chittum said.
Anderson Aldrich’s family refused to cooperate in bomb threat prosecution, DA says
Allen said his office pursued the case to the best of its ability, but was ultimately forced to drop the charges after repeated attempts to subpoena members of Aldrich’s family.
The case was originally scheduled to go to trial in May 2022, but Allen’s office was unable to serve subpoenas on the suspect’s family. Allen said his office requested that the case continue but the defense opposed it.
Allen said the defense told the court at the time that his office had made “valiant efforts” to serve the family’s subpoenas for their testimony, but that there was “no likelihood that these people show up” because they’ve “essentially avoided everyone”. .”
The case was filed and then sealed on August 11.
Without known family testimony about threats allegedly made by Aldrich, Allen said, the prosecution was unable to prove its case. “At the end of the day, you have to put the grandmother on the stand and subject her to cross-examination,” he said.
When will the documents on Club Q shooting suspect Anderson Aldrich be released?
It’s unclear when the documents will be released, however. court officials say the case is under investigation and will be made public as soon as possible.
LGBTQ HATE CRIMES:Colorado Springs shooting joins growing list of LGBTQ hate crimes in America
The judge’s order to release the documents comes after several news outlets, including USA TODAY, sought to have the documents unsealed. The judge’s decision also came over objections from state public defender Joseph Archambault, chief deputy in the state public defender’s office representing Aldrich.
Archambault argued that unsealing the documents would end any chance that Aldrich would receive a fair trial, noting that the charges in the previous incident had never been proven to a jury.
Archambault argues that the cover “already paints Aldrich as guilty”, and there’s no way he can be considered innocent. Aldrich is accused of shooting dead five people and injuring 17 others at Club Q on November 19.
“Unsealing the documents would end any hope of a fair trial,” Archambault said.
Suspect charged this week in shooting at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs
Aldrich was charged on Tuesday with 305 counts in the mass shooting at the LGBTQ nightclub, including charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and hate crime, with additional violent crime specifications .
FILMING IN A LGBTQ NIGHTCLUB:Colorado suspect shooting at LGBTQ nightclub charged with 305 counts including hate crimes and murder
In an affidavit of arrest released Wednesday evening, Detective J. Gasper said Aldrich entered Club Q on Jan. 19 shortly before midnight with an AR platform rifle and pistol, opening fire almost immediately after being entered the main club area.
In Wednesday’s filing, Detective J. Gasper, one of the responding officers, described the bloody scene at the club after the arrest, adding that there was “residue medical debris and scattered clothing “outside the club.
Cases should be posted by the 4th Judicial District Clerk’s Office on the Cases of Interest page for the 4th District of Colorado.
The 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office is scheduled to hold a press conference at 1:30 a.m. MT on Thursday.
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Justin Reutter of the Pueblo Chieftain, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported from Colorado Springs. USA TODAY’s Terry Collins reported from Oakland, Calif.
