The shooter who killed five people and wounded 17 others at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to November's attack on Monday.
Driving the news: Anderson Lee Aldrich received five consecutive life sentences in a state court without the possibility of parole for the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs and was sentenced to a further 2,208 years in prison over attempted murder charges.
The big picture: Aldrich pleaded guilty earlier Monday to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 of attempted murder as part of a plea deal.
- Colorado abolished the death penalty in 2020.
Of note: "That is the longest sentence ever achieved in the Fourth Judicial District and the second, to my knowledge, longest sentence ever achieved in the state of Colorado, second only to the sentence achieved in the Aurora theater shooting case," said Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen at a news conference following the sentencing, per CNN.
What they're saying: Victims' loved ones gave statements in court on the massacre's impact.
- Jeff Aston described his Club Q bartender son Daniel Ashton as a "huge light in this world that was snuffed out by a heinous, evil and cowardly act," according to AP.
