Colorado shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich has evaded the Red Flag Act

The gunman who allegedly opened fire at an LGBTQ club in Colorado on Saturday night, killing five people, had previously had trouble with the law, including threatening his own mother with a homemade bomb.

Anderson Lee Aldrich – who was recovering in a hospital after the attack – was arrested in June 2021 and charged with first-degree assault and kidnapping, police files said, for allegedly threatening to detonate an explosive.

Aldrich had “several guns” and ammunition in his possession when he allegedly threatened to start a carnage – resulting in ten homes in the area being evacuated.

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Getty Images

AFP via Getty Images

The police did not find any homemade explosives.

His mother had refused to cooperate with investigators in the case. Aldrich has not been prosecuted, according to local Fox affiliate KDVR.

The records were sealed, which the Associated Press said helped him evade all “red flag” laws and possible gun confiscation.

Aldrich himself said the case was filed in a voicemail he left the newspaper after calling an editor and asking that the story be removed or updated.

“There is absolutely nothing, the case has been dropped and I am asking that you either remove or update the story,” he said in a voice message to The Gazette. “The entire case has been dropped.”

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said their investigation into the nightclub shooting will also include an investigation into the bomb threat.

Gun control activists wondered if the red flag law had been applied, if the deadly tragedy could have been prevented, or if Aldrich could at least have reported it to authorities.

“We need heroes beforehand — parents, co-workers, friends to see someone walk this path,” said Colorado State Assemblyman Tom Sullivan, whose son was killed in the Aurora Theater shooting and the 2019 law passed sponsored the state’s red flag “That should have alerted them and put him on their radar.”

Aldrich allegedly entered Club Q in El Paso County with a long gun just before midnight and immediately opened fire on guests and employees – until several customers were able to stop the bloodshed and subdued him.

Five people died and 18 were injured – seven critically, police said. Investigators are investigating a possible motive and considering whether hate crime charges are appropriate. The FBI is supporting the investigation.

With mail wires.