Last year, a Colorado judge dismissed a case against Anderson Lee Aldrich, the shooter who killed five people in a Colorado gay bar last month, despite being alerted that the perpetrator was stockpiling firearms and other weapons.
The 2021 kidnapping case was resolved when a SWAT team was called to Aldrich’s grandparent’s house in response to a bomb threat. According to an El Paso County Associated Press.
Judge Chittum’s concerns were echoed by family members who testified that they believed Aldrich was dangerous.
Relatives of Aldrich warned during the 2021 trial “it’s going to be so bad” if his ongoing mental-health struggles were not adequately addressed. In particular, his grandparents warned the court that their grandson wanted to become a “mass killer” and “go out in a blaze,” ABC reports.
Certain family members, however, proved unreceptive to court subpoena requests making the case harder to prosecute. Nevertheless, the court transcripts also point to the judge’s tepidness in disciplining Aldrich.
“This was a potential crime that didn’t just solely impact the grandparents. This was a three-hour standoff. This was disruptive. The police were threatened,” law professor Jonathan Turley told ABC. Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz pointed to the case as an instance of “the legal system failing,” the AP reports.
