A suspect arrested on suspicion of murder in the shooting deaths of two people in a dormitory at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs was a roommate of one of the victims, police said.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday morning that the suspect, Nicholas Jordan, 25, of Detroit, was a roommate of the victim, Samuel Knopp, a senior at the school.
Knopp, 24, and non-student Celie Lane Montgomery, 26, were found dead in the university's Creston House residence Friday morning.
The campus was placed on lockdown for an hour in the wake of the fatal incident, and it was later determined that the shooter was missing, and the incident was being investigated as a homicide.
Late Friday, an arrest warrant was issued for Jordan, a student at the university, on two counts of first-degree murder. The man was found in his car Monday morning and taken into custody in Colorado Springs, police said. Social media.
Vasquez said officials were concerned that Jordan may have fled the area during the search.
“I didn't know exactly where he was,” he said in an interview aired Tuesday on NBC's “TODAY.” “So we spent a lot of time and kept the team under constant scrutiny.”
Police said Monday that an investigation showed the shooting was an “isolated incident between acquaintances and was not a random attack on other students at the school or university.”
Jordan is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon and is being held on $1 million bail, according to online booking records.
School officials said Knopp was from the town of Parker, about 90 miles north of campus, and was studying music.
“He was an accomplished guitarist and an extremely talented musician,” President Jennifer Sobanet said in a statement to the campus community.
Senior Hayden Garcia Gillespie said Knopp was his best friend.
“He was probably the most talented guitarist I've ever met, and you can see that was definitely taken from us too soon,” he said on Tuesday's “TODAY ” said in an interview.
“I don't think anyone could have imagined something like this would happen,” he added.
Montgomery is from Pueblo, about 75 miles south of campus, and studied culinary arts for a semester at Pueblo Community College.
“These deaths and the unimaginable suffering that follows occur too often in environments where teaching and learning should be the only concern,” the university said in a statement.
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs was closed over the weekend and classes were canceled on Monday as students participated in a “day of healing.”
