Colorado Springs, Colo., Mayor John Suthers (R) on Monday said a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in his city over the weekend “has all the trappings” of a hate crime.
“The motive is still under investigation,” Suthers said during an appearance on NBC’s “Today.”
“It has all the trappings of a hate crime, but we need to look at social media, we need to look at all kinds of other information that we’re gathering from people that knew the individual before we make any definitive conclusions about a motivation,” Suthers added. “But it certainly as I say has the trappings of a hate crime.”
Authorities said 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich entered Club Q late on Saturday night and immediately began shooting, killing five and injuring 25 others before multiple clubgoers confronted him and stopped him.
Many political figures condemned the shooting as they made comparisons to the 2016 massacre at Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, that killed 49 people in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
Police have said they will determine if the Colorado Springs tragedy constitutes a hate crime as part of the investigation.
“We’re a community in mourning, but we’re a community that’s determined to make sure that the actions of a lone gunman don’t define our community,” Suthers said on NBC.
When asked about a reported bomb threat in Colorado Springs in June 2021 involving an individual with a matching name and age, Suthers said he couldn’t comment about any of the suspect’s past interactions with law enforcement.
But Suthers indicated the district attorney will file motions in court later on Monday in the case, suggesting the filings will allow law enforcement to talk more about any criminal history.
The mayor also noted to hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb that the club had been operating for about 21 years and had very few past calls to law enforcement, describing it as “extremely well managed.”