New footage obtained by The Gazette shows events during a 2021 bomb threat that lead to the arrest of 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, whose name and age match that of the suspect arrested in Saturday’s Club Q shooting. In this screen recording provided by the owner of the house where Aldrich’s mother lived at the time of the threat, a man appears to be live-streaming the bomb threat while wearing body armor.
The mother of Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspect in the Club Q shooting, has three outstanding warrants for her arrest out of California and an arson charge out of Bexar County, Texas.
That arson charge was reduced to a lesser charge.
Laura Lea Voepel, 45, was sentenced to five years of probation in Aug. 2013 and did not complete the probation terms, which were set to expire Aug. 2018, according to court records obtained by The Gazette.
“At the end of the day, the District Attorney made an offer of criminal mischief and probation,” said her court-appointed attorney, James Oltersdorf.
Oltersdorf said he never heard again from Voepel after he represented her.
Records show that Voepel is Aldrich’s mother. It is unclear whether he lived with her while he was in Colorado. On June 18, 2021, she called El Paso County Sheriff’s at 1:56 p.m. to report a bomb threat at the 9800 block of Rubicon Drive, according to an El Paso County Sheriff’s press release.
Voepel told authorities that her son was threatening to hurt her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition. The release said that Anderson Lee Aldrich was around a mile away from the Rubicon Drive address and that when deputies called him, he refused to surrender, the release said.
Police evacuated the area and Aldrich walked out of the door at 5:46 p.m., four hours after the initial call, El Paso County Sheriff’s said.
Relatives who wished not to be identified said that the incident started when Aldrich found out that his maternal grandparents were going to move from Colorado to Florida.
New footage obtained by The Gazette shows the events leading to the arrest of 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, whose name and age match that of the suspect arrested in Saturday’s Club Q shooting, in connection a June 2021 bomb threat reported by his mother in a Lorson Ranch neighborhood. Law enforcement officials investigating the Club Q shootings said Aldrich’s “interactions with law enforcement” are part of the broader investigation. Aldrich faced arrest-only charges of felony kidnapping and menacing in the incident, though no formal charges were pursued and his case was sealed, the District Attorney’s Office said.
On a neighborhood doorbell surveillance video obtained by The Gazette, Aldrich can be heard saying to his mother, “This is the day I die. They don’t give a f*** about me any more. Clearly.”
Aldrich is suspected of killing 5 people and injuring 18 more at Colorado Springs’ Club Q nightclub over the weekend. Witnesses said the suspect entered the club just before midnight Saturday and began shooting.
There are three warrants open in three of four cases on Voepel’s California criminal record, according to Riverside County court documents.
Records show that Voepel was arrested in 2008 for false reporting, in 2010 for speeding and failure to appear, and in 2011 for driving under the influence. In 2008, she was arrested in Riverside for public intoxication and failure to appear, but that case was closed.
Voepel is the daughter of California assemblyman Randy Voepel. Relatives who wished to remain unidentified said the suspect is the assemblyman’s biological grandson, although family sources say the family relationship has been splintered.
Attempts to reach Randy Voepel, whose campaign website has been taken down since Monday, have been unsuccessful.