Police on Monday arrested a 25-year-old University of Colorado student in connection with the dorm-room shooting on the Colorado Springs campus last week that claimed the lives of a student and a 26-year-old woman.
The arrest came just hours before the university hosted a healing walk through campus to give community members a space to process Friday’s double homicide.
Nicholas Trevon Jordan, 25, of Detroit, was arrested Monday morning on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Samuel Knopp, 24, and Celie Rain Montgomery, the Colorado Springs Police Department said in a news release.
Investigators obtained a warrant for Jordan’s arrest on Friday evening and had been searching for him ever since. He was arrested at 8:37 a.m. after officers found him in a vehicle in the 4900 block of Cliff Point Circle East in Colorado Springs, the department said.
Jordan was enrolled at CU Colorado Springs at the time of the shooting, university spokesperson Jenna Press said. He is being held at the El Paso County Jail on a $1 million bail and is set to appear in court Tuesday, according to jail records.
Knopp, of Parker, and Montgomery, of Pueblo, were killed in the shooting early Friday morning in a Crestone House dorm room. The shooting sparked a lockdown on campus and led to classes and activities being canceled and the campus being closed through the weekend.
In an online profile for music teachers offering in-home lessons, Knopp described himself as a lifelong musician who started playing viola at 8 years old.
Knopp fell in love with the guitar after moving to Colorado from Ann Arbor, Michigan, when he was 17 years old, according to the profile. He was pursuing a degree in music theory at CU Colorado Springs and most enjoyed playing classical and lead electric guitar.
At 2 p.m. Monday, hundreds of people — including university students, staff and faculty as well as city residents — embarked on the healing walk from the north end of campus to its center before hearing remarks from campus Chief of Police Dewayne McCarver, student body president Axel Brown and Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet in front of the mountain lion statue in the center of campus.
“I’m just super grateful that the university is doing this for us because a lot of us are grieving still,” said AJ Vafiades, an alumna who now works in human resources for the university’s visual performing arts department. “There has (been) a very big, dark shadow hanging over campus; I feel like everyone is very somber.”
And the somber feeling echoed throughout the afternoon. Several students cried and hugged one another in the crowd. Some students said that the incident was too recent to publicly discuss, with nearly 30 declining to speak to a reporter about the shootings.
University staff handed out red, white, pink and yellow roses to everyone in attendance before the walk began. At the conclusion of the event, everyone was invited to place their roses on top of the mountain lion statue. Brown noted in his speech that the flowers will be moved to a more permanent memorial inside the library.
In addition to the tremendous amount of UCCS participation in the walk, Sobanet noted in her speech that several students and staff from CU Boulder traveled south to show their support during the walk. Additionally, many city residents participated to support the university, including some who have no connection to it whatsoever.
“One of the more important roles we play as members of a community is to show support for one another, whether we have a direct connection to an event or not,” said Colorado Springs resident Seth Palmer Harris. “Even though I’m not directly connected to UCCS, I still wanted to show my support and appreciation.”
McCarver, Brown and Sobanet all took time in their speeches to share their appreciation for the community support during such a difficult time and noted the love they feel and shared with all in attendance.
“I’m glad you (all) are taking the time to come together with your fellow mountain lions,” Brown said in his speech after the walk concluded. “While I wish that we were gathered here under better circumstances, it is difficult moments like this that highlight just how strong our UCCS community truly is.”
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