The perpetrator of a murder in an LGBT+ nightclub in the western United States has been charged with a homophobic crime, federal prosecutors announced this Tuesday, more than a year after the events and when he is already serving a life sentence for these murders.
Anderson Lee Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison in June by Colorado courts, but only for murder and attempted murder, not for the possible homophobic nature of his crime.
The shooter, who has identified as non-binary since the beginning of this case, has until now always denied being motivated by hate.
Could avoid the death penalty
But a new investigation led by the FBI “also alleges that Anderson Lee Aldrich committed this attack because of the real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity” of his targets, according to a news release from the federal prosecutor’s office.
“The defendant is expected to agree to plead guilty to all charges” in this new federal proceeding, the prosecutor’s office adds.
According to local media, the agreement to plead guilty would contain a clause that would allow the murderer to avoid the death penalty.
During the trial in Colorado, the prosecution noted in particular that Aldrich ran a website on which a neo-Nazi video had been posted and that there was no trace of an expression of his non-binary identity before the massacre.
The bloodbath had revived the fears of the American LGBT+ community, six years after the worst murder in its history: on June 12, 2016, an American of Afghan origin killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Source: BFM TV
