Accused Colorado gunman that left five dead and 25 injured at a Colorado LGBTQ club is grandson of ex-California lawmaker

Accused Colorado gunman that left five dead and 25 injured at a Colorado LGBTQ club is grandson of ex-California lawmaker

The gunman, who allegedly killed five people at an LGBTQ club in Colorado, was reportedly the grandson of a California Republican lawmaker who likened the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to the Revolutionary War.

Multiple news outlets have identified accused shooter Anderson Lee Aldridge’s mother as Laura Vaupel and father of state congressman Randy Vaupel, 71, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. , he lost his seat in the midterm elections. The politician, who has represented the 71st District since 2016, came under fire last year when he compared the Jan. 6 insurrection to the American Revolution.

“This is Lexington and Concord. The first shots fired tyranny,” he told the Union-Tribune three days after the unrest. “After Biden is sworn in on January 20, tyranny will follow.” He later claimed his remarks were misunderstood and said the behavior of President Donald Trump’s supporters at the Capitol was despicable.

“There are lunatics on the left, there are lunatics on the right, and I don’t support either of them,” Voepel said. “I support the First Amendment and the ability to protest, as long as you remain peaceful.”

Laura Voepel mentioned her father’s public service several times on her Facebook page, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported. Voepel likened the Jan. 6 uprising to the American Revolutionary War.
“Keep it up dad. They worked hard to improve our lives, and many of us noticed,” she wrote in April 2020 of Randy, the former mayor of Santee, California.

In June 2021, Aldridge was charged with first-degree assault and kidnapping for allegedly threatening his mother to detonate explosives, police files show. But he was not charged after she refused to cooperate with authorities, according to local Fox affiliate KDVR.