Colorado University Hires 2 Former US Attorneys to Review Shooting, Recommend Any Changes

BY COLLEEN SLEVIN

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado university where a student is charged with killing his suitemate and another person in a dorm room last month has hired two former U.S. attorneys to review what led to the shooting and recommend whether any campus policies and procedures should be changed.

John Suthers, who most recently served as mayor of Colorado Springs, and Jason Dunn, have been asked to conduct the review prompted by the Feb. 16 shooting at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

An executive summary of key findings and recommendations will be released, and the university’s emergency management team can then work on any suggested changes, chancellor Jennifer Sobanet said in an email sent to the campus on Thursday and released to The Associated Press on Monday.

Nicholas Jordan, 25, is accused of killing Samuel Knopp, 24, a senior studying music, and his friend, Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, a mother of two who loved singing. Authorities have not revealed a motive but the shooting came about a month after Jordan allegedly threatened to kill Knopp amid an ongoing dispute about living conditions in their shared living area, according to Jordan’s arrest affidavit.

Another suitemate told investigators that he and Knopp had made multiple complaints about Jordan’s “living area cleanliness,” and his marijuana and cigarette smoking. The death threat came after Knopp gathered some trash in a bag and placed it at the door of Jordan’s bedroom in the pod-style dorm, which included a shared living area and individual bedrooms, the other suitemate said.

“Mr. Jordan threatened Mr. Knopp and told him that he would ”kill him” and there would be consequences if Mr. Jordan was asked to take out the trash again,” police said in the document.

The dispute in early January was reported to campus police and housing officials, but there is no indication in the document that university officials made any attempt to remove the suspect from the suite, despite multiple reports of conflicts, including the threat.

The university has declined to say whether it took any action in response to the problems, citing the ongoing criminal investigation and federal student privacy laws.

Jordan, a junior who had been studying accounting at the university, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Jordan has not been asked to enter a plea yet and his prosecution is on hold for now because of concerns about his mental health. Last week, a judge ordered that Jordan’s mental competency be evaluated by a psychologist at the request of Jordan’s lawyer.

The University of Colorado-Colorado Springs has about 11,000 students. It was founded in 1965 and started as a division of the University of Colorado in Boulder, the state’s flagship public college. It was recognized as an independent college in 1974.