CLUB Q SHOOTER

From William O'Conner and Corbin Bolies' 11-20-22 DAILY BEAST article entitled "Rifle-Toting Gunman Turns Drag Show Into Bloodbath":

A rifle-toting gunman opened fire during a drag show at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five and injuring 25 before he was tackled by heroic patrons. 

Authorities said the suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was in custody. Although police did not provide a motive for the nation’s latest mass shooting, Club Q called it a "hate attack" in a statement. 

The violence that unfolded just before midnight drew immediate comparisons to the 2016 shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse, which left 49 dead. It also came as drag shows have been condemned by some factions of the far right.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

From Teri Figueroa and David Hernandez's 11-20-22 SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE article entitled "Accused Colorado Nightclub Gunman Grandson of Longtime East County Politician":

The 22-year-old man arrested early Sunday as the suspected gunman in a deadly mass shooting at a LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado is the grandson of longtime East County politician Randy Voepel [of San Diego, CA].

Shortly before midnight Saturday, a gunman opened fire in Club Q in Colorado Springs, police there said. Five people died and 25 more were injured. Five minutes after the first calls came in, police arrested the suspected shooter: Anderson Lee Aldrich.

Aldrich’s mother appears to be Laura Voepel, according to media outlets including The Guardian, The Hill and The Gazette in Colorado Springs. Records reviewed by the Union-Tribune list the same Colorado Springs apartment address for her and Aldrich.

Laura Voepel is the daughter of state Assemblymember Randy Voepel, 71, who has represented the 71st District since 2016. He served on the Santee City Council as a council member and mayor for two decades [...]. [Note: The little-known town of Santee is mentioned on p. 48 of my 2015 nonfiction book, CHAMELEO. Despite being a relatively obscure suburb, it managed to make international headlines in 2020--twice in the same week--for being a hotbed of white supremacy. For further information, read this 5-15-20 SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE article entitled "Santee Is Called 'Klantee' for a Reason. We Deed to Talk About It."--RG]

Last year, [Randy] Voepel faced criticism after he compared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to the American Revolutionary War.

“This is Lexington and Concord. First shots fired against tyranny,” Voepel told the Union-Tribune three days after the deadly Capitol riot. “Tyranny will follow in the aftermath of the Biden swear-in on January 20th” [...].

San Diego County has ties to a prior mass shooting in Colorado. In July 2012, graduate student James Holmes walked into an Aurora, Colo. movie theater and opened fire, killing 12 and wounding dozens. Aurora is a suburb of Denver, roughly 70 miles north of Colorado Springs. Holmes was born and raised in San Diego. He was attending graduate school in Colorado at the time of the shooting.

To read the entire article, click HERE.