CNN Segment on Colorado Gay Club Shooting Suspect’s Sexuality Described as ‘Like Watching Someone Step on a Rake in Slow Motion’

A segment on CNN last night took an interesting turn and was described by journalist Tom Elliott as “like watching someone step on a rake in slow motion.”

Elliott shared a clip of the segment, which included former Minnesota Senator Al Franken, and said, “CNN panel in a state of confusion after the Club Q killer’s lawyers say he’s ‘non-binary’ and uses ‘they/them’ pronouns: ‘I don’t know what to say about that'”

In a reply, Elliott added, “It’s like watching someone step on a rake in slow motion” along with a quote tweet of a response that he had made to a tweet from NBC reporter Ben Collins that now comes up as unavailable.

Elliott had asked Collins, “Ben, before you continue shamelessly coopting these deaths for your own political activism, don’t you think it might be prudent — just for the sake of avoiding future embarrassment — to at least wait for some of your colleagues to complete some initial reporting?”

“Things this could theoretically be besides an anti-LGBT ‘hate crime’: — Killer angry at being spurned in the same club days before — Some online war spilling into real life — Dude is just absolutely fucking crazy and shot up the first place he saw Point is, WE HAVE NO IDEA,” Elliott pointed out in a subsequent reply to that tweet.

It’s like watching someone step on a rake in slow motion https://t.co/E3IZGHB8sw

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 23, 2022

It was reported that in several standard motions filed yesterday on behalf of the suspected shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich, public defenders refer to the suspect as “Mx. Aldrich,” noting in footnotes that Aldrich is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.

Aldrich was beaten into submission by patrons during Saturday night’s shooting at Club Q and while the motive in the shooting was still under investigation, authorities said Aldrich faces possible murder and hate crime charges.

The report noted that hate crime charges would require proving that the gunman was motivated by bias, such as against the victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Charges against Aldrich, who is represented by Joseph Archambault, a chief trial deputy with the state public defender’s office are preliminary, and prosecutors have not yet filed formal charges.