The Divided Search For a Motive in the Club Q Shooting
Summary from AllSides News Team
Following a shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub that left five people dead in Colorado Springs, politicians, writers, and more are in disagreement regarding the shooter’s motive, and if the attack was a hate crime directed at the LGBTQ+ community.
Key Quotes: An article from Michelle Goldberg called the shooting “at once shocking and entirely predictable,” stating that the attack “took place in a climate of escalating anti-gay and anti-trans violence.” An opinion piece in CNN Opinion (Left Bias) cited FBI data reporting a spike in hate crimes to determine the attack was “not an anomaly,” and that “hate is a learned behavior.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Twitter, writing, “you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies.”
On the other hand, some have labeled the link to the shooting and broader LGBTQ+ violence a premature assumption. Brad Polumbo criticized AOC and other progressives, stating that concluding the motive of the shooter before a proper investigation will “partially let the killer off the hook for his crimes,” and that politicizing the shooting would “distract from the healing our country needs in the aftermath of such a heinous tragedy.”
For Context: On Wednesday, the alleged shooter appeared in court. The Denver Post (Not Rated) reported that the alleged shooter’s defense attorney wrote in court filings that the alleged shooter is non-binary.
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Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, had been in hospital since his arrest early Sunday morning until Tuesday, when he was transferred to jail.
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