FBI confirms knowing about alleged Colorado gay nightclub shooter after 2021 bomb threat

The FBI is acknowledging having been aware that alleged Colorado nightclub shooter was a potential security threat before he fatally shot five people last month in the club. 

The FBI told The Epoch Times that defendant Anderson Lee Aldrich was put on their radar last summer after he threatened to kill family members.

"The FBI received information on June 17, 2021, concerning Anderson Aldrich," the agency said Wednesday. "As part of the assessment, the FBI coordinated with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, which arrested Aldrich on June 18, 2021. With state charges pending, the FBI closed its assessment on July 15, 2021."

Colorado prosecutors on Tuesday charged Aldrich with 305 criminal counts, including hate crimes and murder. The investigators say that Aldrich entered the LQBTQ-plus club in Colorado Springs on Nov. 19 at about midnight and started shooting before being taken down to the ground by patrons.

"Obviously when you file 305 counts in a case, that tells the public, this community, this state and this nation that we are taking this case as seriously as we possibly can and we are going to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law," said District Attorney Michael Allen.

Charged were drooped in the 2021 bomb threat case because family members refused to cooperate, said the district attorney and according to court documents unsealed Thursday and obtained by the Associated Press.

The charges were dropped despite authorities finding a "tub" full of bomb-making chemicals and later receiving warnings from other relatives that Aldrich was certain to hurt or murder grandparents if freed.