New images show Colorado gay club shooter sneaking inside with his gun

Chilling surveillance photos show the Colorado gay club shooter moments before they killed five people and injured 25.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, was seen leaving their car in the Club Q parking lot with an AR-15 assault rifle at 11.55pm on November 19. 

An El Paso County judge released the photos, along with previously sealed documents related to Aldrich's 2021 bomb threat charges, which were dropped after their family refused to cooperate. 

The black and white photos show Aldrich with the gun raised as they prepare to enter the club. Minutes later, they shot two people. 

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was spotted in newly released surveillance footage moments before they opened fire at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, was seen stepping out of their car with an AR-15 assault rifle at 11.55pm

 Aldrich entered the bar with the assault rifle up, and immediately shot two people

In their booking photo, Aldrich appeared battered, with face and neck bruises apparently sustained when beaten by the bar's patrons

Photographs of victims of the shooting on display at a memorial near the club

They then fired multiple rounds, before being tackled to the floor by bar patrons at 12:02am.

The footage from the parking lot was released to investigators by Club Q owner Matthew Haynes. The original videos captured in Haynes' surveillance footage contain audio. 

Footage of inside the club was also taken but hasn't been released.  

Other documents ordered unsealed by the judge revealed that Aldrich had been arrested in June 2021 on allegations of making a bomb threat. That incident led to the evacuation of about 10 homes. 

The 22-year-old had  threatened to harm family members and boasted of having bomb-making materials, ammunition and multiple weapons, according to the documents. 

The case indicated that the suspect had threatened to kill relatives, and intended to become the 'next mass killer' more than a year before the nightclub attack.

Aldrich's statements in the case, which was dropped over the summer, have raised questions about why authorities did not seek to seize the suspect's guns under Colorado's 'red flag' law.

Judge Robin Chittum said the 'profound' public interest in the case outweighed Aldrich's privacy rights. The judge added that scrutiny of judicial cases is 'foundational to our system of government.'

'The only way for that scrutiny to occur is for this to be unsealed,' she said. 

Aldrich was booked into jail on suspicion of felony menacing and kidnapping. The case was later dropped, and officials have refused to speak about it, citing a state law that calls for dismissed cases to be sealed. 

Investigators at the scene of the Club Q nightclub, where Aldrich arrived with an AR-15 rifle

An El Paso County judge released the documents on Thursday and announced Aldrich's 2021 bomb threat charges were dropped after their family refused to cooperate

The judge's order to release the records comes after news organizations sought to unseal the documents.

The papers detail how Aldrich told frightened their grandparents about firearms and bomb-making material they kept in their basement, and vowed not to let them interfere with Aldrich's plans to be 'the next mass killer' and 'go out in a blaze.'

Aldrich then pointed a Glock handgun at the grandparents as they pleaded for their lives and said: 'You guys die today... I´m loaded and ready.'

Their grandparents fled for their lives and called 911, and fear of a possible bomb blast prompted the evacuation of nearby homes.

Aldrich was then in a standoff with SWAT teams, and warned them that they had armor-piercing rounds and a determination to 'go to the end.'

Eventually, a barefoot Aldrich came out with hands raised and surrendered.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, left, in a family photo and, right, in a June 2021 livestream where they threatened to blow up a house where

Before Aldrich carried out the deadly shooting, the suspect had threatened to kill their grandparents in 2021 for standing in the way of a plan to become 'the next mass killer'

Aldrich was also the subject of a tip received by the FBI a day before the bomb threat. Agents closed out the case just weeks later.

Under Colorado law, records are automatically sealed when a case is dropped and defendants are not prosecuted, as happened in Aldrich´s 2021 case.

Once sealed, officials cannot acknowledge that the records exist, and the process to unseal the documents initially happens behind closed doors with no docket to follow and an unnamed judge.

'This is one of the strangest hearings I think I've ever had,' Judge Chittum said. 'I'm having a hearing about a case that none of us is to recognize.'

Chittum ruled despite objections from the suspect's attorney and mother.

Public defender Joseph Archambault argued that while the public has an interest in the case, Aldrich's right to a fair trial was paramount.

'This will make sure there is no presumption of innocence,' Archambault said.

Aldrich is pictured last year, showing up at the house where their mother was renting a room, after threatening to blow up their grandparents' basement

Anderson Lee Aldrich, center, appears at El Paso County District Court Tuesday, where they were formally charged with the November 19 shooting at Club Q

During Thursday's hearing, Aldrich sat at the defense table looking straight ahead or down at times, and did not appear to show any reaction when their mother's lawyer asked that the case remain sealed.

An attorney for Aldrich's mother argued that unsealing the case would increase the likelihood that she would suffer harm, harassment, intimidation or retaliation.

Aldrich was formally charged Tuesday with 305 criminal counts, including hate crimes and murder, in the November 19 shooting at Club Q. 

Conviction on the murder charges would carry the harshest penalty - likely life in prison.