The suspect allegedly told their grandmother they'd be the "next mass killer" and were collecting guns and ammo, according to unsealed court papers.
David Zalubowski/AP
More than a year before the deadly massacre at a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub, the suspected shooter was accused of threatening to kill their grandparents in a bomb threat case — but the charges were dropped after the family refused to cooperate, according to newly unsealed court documents and a local district attorney.
The suspect's grandmother called police on June 18, 2021 and reported that the suspect was making a bomb in the basement of their Colorado home, the documents say.
The accused shooter — whose attorney said they use they/them pronouns and is non-binary — allegedly loaded a gun and pointed it at their grandparents, saying "You guys die today, and I'm taking you with me. I'm loaded and ready. You're not calling anyone," the court papers state.
The grandmother said that the suspect told her that they were "going to be the next mass killer" and had been collecting guns and ammo in the basement, according to the court papers. The suspect bragged about wanting to "go out in a blaze," the court papers allege.
The suspect allegedly told their grandparents about a plan to "conduct a mass shooting and a bombing" and held the grandparents hostage until they promised they wouldn't move out of state as they planned, according to the court filings.
The grandparents "begged for their lives" and promised that they would not move, the court papers say.
The accused shooter also said that they had a bomb "powerful enough to blow up a police department and a federal building," the documents state.
According to the court documents, the suspect fled to their mother's home, then threatened a SWAT team member and said they were "going to start shooting through the walls."
The suspected shooter told the SWAT team negotiator that they had a "gas mask, armor piercing rounds and 'is ready to go to the end,'" the documents say.
The suspect ultimately surrendered and was arrested on felony charges of menacing and first-degree kidnapping, but a court dismissed the case in July 2022 after their family refused to testify.
"They didn't cooperate and it led to the dismissal of that case," El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen told reporters on Thursday after the court documents were unsealed.
Allen said that his office "absolutely prosecuted" the case.
"We prosecuted it until we couldn't prosecute it any longer and it would not have prevented" the November 19 shooting at Colorado Springs' Club Q in which five people were killed and 17 others injured, Allen said.
At a court hearing in August 2021, the suspect's mother described the suspect as "loving" and their grandparents described them as "sweet" and "unusually bright," according to Allen.
The case was "properly" dismissed by the court "because the witnesses were not cooperating with the prosecution," the district attorney said.
Following the June 2021 incident, investigators executed a search warrant and found a pistol and a rifle; both of those weapons still remain in police custody and were never returned to the suspect, according to Allen.
The 22-year-old Club Q shooting suspect was formally charged this week with 305 counts, including murder and bias-motivated crimes, for the deadly attack on the LGBTQ nightclub.
