The suspect in the grisly double slaying of a University of Colorado student and his gal pal inside a campus dorm room was also a student at the school — and the roommate of one of the victims, police said Tuesday.
Nicholas Jordan, 25, of Detroit, was a senior at the Colorado Springs university when he allegedly shot roomie Samuel Knopp, 24, and 26-year-old Celie Rain Montgomery on Friday, with both victims found with a single gunshot wound to the head, according to police.
Colorado Springs cops tracked down Jordan and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder on Monday — and revealed that the accused killer was Knopp’s college roommate and both lived in the Crestone House dorm where the bodies were found, the Denver Post said.
Jordan was in court on Tuesday and ordered held on $5 million cash bail by El Paso County Court Judge Shannon Gerhart, the outlet reported.
Prosecutor Robert Willett said the hefty bail was warranted because “there are indications he tried to flee the state” after the dual killings.
Police responded to the dorm on reports of shots fired around 6 a.m. on Friday and found the two bodies, the Colorado Springs Police Department said in a press release.
The university went into lockdown for about one hour, but cops quickly identified Jordan as the suspect, obtaining an arrest warrant for him on two counts of murder by the end of the day on Friday.
On Monday, police spotted Jordan sitting in his car shortly before 8 a.m. and arrested him.
Police have not released details regarding a possible motive for the grisly shootings or the circumstances that led to it.
Initial reports were that the Friday morning double slayings were the result of a murder-suicide, but police dashed those reports after identifying Jordan as the suspect.
In a Facebook post on Monday, university Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet said the school had scheduled two forums for students and faculty on Tuesday to provide more information about the incident.
CSPD has reiterated that investigative efforts so far continue to indicate this is an isolated incident between parties that were known to one another and not a random attack against the school or other students at the university,” she said. “The university will continue to share information as we are able.”
In a follow-up Facebook post, the school said the shootings of Knopp and Montgomery were among three recent deaths on the Colorado Springs campus.
“Earlier in the week, the UCCS community also lost Mia Brown, a senior in our nursing program, due to a personal medical emergency in the UCCS Recreation Center,” the school said.
“All three of these lives lost will live on in the hearts of our Mountain Lion community as we all collectively work together to process these losses and move forward in healing.”