Accused Colorado Springs Shooter Left Scant Social Media Trail, Authorities Say

Officers with information of the investigation stated they haven’t discovered a big web presence for Mr. Aldrich or a historical past of sharing hateful views towards the LGBT group or others on-line.

“He’s off social media,” stated one law-enforcement official with information of the case. “There’s not quite a bit about him.”

Mr. Aldrich, who was born in California and spent a minimum of a few of his childhood in Texas dwelling along with his grandparents, legally modified his identify when he was 15, in response to courtroom information.

He was arrested on homicide and hate-crime prices within the bloodbath on Saturday evening at Membership Q, which was internet hosting a drag present. The membership had deliberate a brunch for Sunday in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance.

A consultant of the general public defender’s workplace, which is representing Mr. Aldrich, didn’t reply to requests for remark. The Colorado Springs Police Division stated Tuesday that Mr. Aldrich, who was beforehand being handled at a hospital for accidents sustained within the assault, had been transferred to the county jail.

He’s scheduled to make his first courtroom look Wednesday.

Mr. Aldrich was arrested in June 2021 after he held his household hostage at gunpoint, in response to law-enforcement officers briefed on the investigation. His mom,

Laura Voepel,

referred to as the police and stated her son was threatening to harm her with a home made bomb, a number of weapons, and ammunition, in response to a press launch from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Workplace.

Ms. Voepel didn’t reply to makes an attempt to succeed in her by way of telephone, social media and at her final handle listed in public information.

Mr. Aldrich was arrested on two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping associated to that incident.

Authorities confiscated firearms from Mr. Aldrich with a search warrant, in response to the officers. However no explosives have been discovered, the sheriff’s workplace stated on the time.

The case by no means proceeded and in the end the recordsdata have been sealed, in response to one of many law-enforcement officers.

In a video of the incident posted on

Fb

from Ms. Voepel’s account, an individual who resembles Mr. Aldrich might be seen strolling by way of the home in a helmet and vest, holding what seems to be a gun, whereas the police encompass the home.

“In the event that they breach I’m gonna…blow it to holy hell,” the individual resembling Mr. Aldrich stated within the video. “So go forward and are available on in, boys.”

The individual resembling Mr. Aldrich ultimately walked out of the Colorado Springs residence with out the helmet or vest on along with his arms up and surrendered to the police.

Storyful, a social-media analysis firm owned by

Information Corp.

, mother or father firm of The Wall Road Journal, verified that the account belongs to Ms. Voepel.

Mr. Aldrich was born Nicholas Brink in 2000 in California. Whereas dwelling in San Antonio within the spring of 2016, he legally modified his identify to

Anderson Lee Aldrich.

In accordance with courtroom information from Bexar County, Texas, his maternal grandmother and step-grandfather, with whom he had lived on and off through the years, petitioned for the identify change. The grandparents didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The courtroom information don’t present particulars of why Mr. Aldrich modified his identify.

The Washington Put up reported beforehand on Mr. Aldrich’s identify change.

Legislation enforcement have uncovered a web site from the suspect’s teen years on which individuals mocked him for causes together with his weight, in response to one of many officers with information of the investigation.

In 2020, in response to public information, Mr. Aldrich tried to enroll at Metro State College of Denver, a public college that gives on-line and in individual courses, and supposed to main in political science.

Mr. Aldrich utilized to the college however his software was incomplete, stated an individual who answered the telephone on the college’s registrar’s workplace. Tim Carroll, a college spokesman, stated Mr. Aldrich was by no means enrolled.

Public information present that Ms. Voepel moved from Southern California to San Antonio earlier than arriving in Colorado Springs up to now few years. The information don’t point out at what instances she lived together with her son.

In 2021, Ms. Voepel responded to a put up in a Fb group for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado Springs from somebody looking for psychiatric companies for a kid. Ms. Voepel really useful a health care provider she stated had been her “queen of stability for two years.” The advice got here a couple of month earlier than the incident by which Mr. Aldrich was arrested after holding his household at gunpoint.

In July of that 12 months, after the arrest, she posted in the identical group a request for suggestions for a felony protection lawyer. Her put up didn’t say who the lawyer would signify.

“It’s with a heavy coronary heart that I ask however my household actually wants some assist right now,” she wrote within the put up.

—Ginger Adams Otis contributed to this text.

Write to Zusha Elinson at zusha.elinson@wsj.com, Adolfo Flores at adolfo.flores@wsj.com and Alicia A. Caldwell at alicia.caldwell@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
[The Colorado Springs Police Department said Tuesday that Anderson Lee Aldrich had been transferred to the county jail. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Monday. (Corrected on Nov. 22.)