The suspect accused of killing 5 people and injuring several others at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday, is the grandson of a Republican lawmaker in California.
Police have identified the suspect as Anderson Lee Aldrich. Police say Aldrich, entered Club Q just before midnight Saturday and opened fire killing 5 people and injuring 25 others before he was subdued by two patrons in the club.
A family member confirmed to The Denver Gazette that Aldrich is the grandson of Republican California state assembly member, Randy Voepel.
Voepel ran for reelection this year but lost in the Republican primary.
Before he was an assembly member, Voepel, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, was the mayor of Santee, California, from 2000 to 2016.
He faced calls to resign from the state assembly last year after he celebrated the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, and compared the rioters to revolutionaries.
“This is Lexington and Concord. First shots fired against tyranny,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune after the riot. “Tyranny will follow in the aftermath of the Biden swear-in on January 20th.”
He later walked back those comments, saying that he “condemned violence and lawlessness”.
The connection between Aldrich and a Republican lawmaker comes as there are still questions surrounding how he managed to buy a weapon to carry out the attack.
Aldrich was charged with menacing and first-degree kidnapping in June last year after he allegedly made a bomb threat against his mother, Voepel’s daughter Laura Voepel. No formal charges were filed and the records were sealed.
No motive has been determined for Saturday’s mass shooting. But police say they were investigating whether the attack was a hate crime, noting Club Q’s relationship with the LGBTQ community and that the shooting occurred on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, according to CNN.
Hate begets hate.