Suspect in Club Q mass shooting charged with 305 counts, including hate crimes and murder - CBS News

The suspect accused of entering a Colorado gay nightclub clad in body armor and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and wounding 17 others, was charged by prosecutors Tuesday with 305 criminal counts including hate crimes and murder.

The counts against Anderson Lee Aldrich include 48 hate crime charges, one for each person known to have been in the club at the time of the shooting.

Of the 48 hate crime charges, 27 counts involve injuries and 21 involve people fearing injury or property damage.

The defendant had been held on hate crime charges but prosecutors had said previously they weren't sure if those counts would stick because they needed to assess if there was adequate evidence to show it was a bias motivated crime.

Allen said the suspect being nonbinary was "part of the picture" in considering hate crime charges but he wouldn't elaborate.

The shooting came more than a year after the defendant was arrested following a standoff with SWAT teams after authorities say the defendant threatened to stockpile guns, ammo and body armor to become the "next mass killer." But charges were dropped, the record is sealed and prosecutors say they can't legally talk about what happened.

The defendant was booked into jail on suspicion of felony menacing and kidnapping, but it's unclear why the charges weren't pursued.