COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — On Monday, Colorado Springs Police announced an arrest in the killings of two people on the campus of University of Colorado – Colorado Springs.
A 24-year-old student, Sam Knopp, was found shot and killed in his student housing, along with 26-year-old Celie Rain Montgomery.
On Monday morning, 25-year-old fellow student Nicholas Jordan was arrested, suspected of murdering the two.
The Friday prior, Colorado Springs Police had said there was no threat to the community.
“We don't believe at this point that there is an ongoing threat to the community, and we are investigating this as an isolated incident,” Ira Cronin, Colorado Springs Police spokesman, said.
Yet, the person suspected in the crimes was not found until Monday.
How do those two mesh?
“That statement is usually a nod to the public that law enforcement has enough information on it that they don’t believe that the individual behind it is a specific threat or a general threat to the public,” Justin Smtih, former Larimer County sheriff, said.
Smith, who is no longer sheriff, agreed to talk about the use of the term “no threat to the public.”
“Most people that commit a murder don’t go on a rampage,” Smith said. “Statistically, you go and look at that, whether it’s a domestic murder, it’s a crime of passion, it could be related to a drug crime, any number of things. Typically, you don’t see them go on to multiple murders.”
On Dec. 1, 2017, 17-year-old Maggie Long was killed in her Park County home. That home was burglarized and then set on fire.
In Feb. 2018, then-sheriff Fred Wegener spoke publicly with the media for the first time about the case. The news conference included photos of items stolen from the home in the burglary, including an AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle, a semiautomatic pistol and approximately 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He then assured the public that there was no danger.
"Based on the information we have gathered we are very confident that we – there is no threat out there right now to anybody else,” Wegener said in Feb. 2018.
“It’s acknowledging that law enforcement, throughout their investigation, has enough information that they believe that the motive on this was very targeted to those individuals, and that the evidence, so far, is not pointing to this person or not having a likelihood to be targeting others in the community,” Smith said.
In announcing the arrest of Jordan, Colorado Springs Police said that the department’s motor vehicle theft unit discovered him. About 45 minutes later, the department’s tactical enforcement unit arrived to take him into custody.
If there was no danger to the public, why did the motor theft vehicle unit need help from a specialized tactical enforcement unit?
“Our tactical team best practice [is] to apprehend suspects who we are looking for who are accused of a violent crime,” Cronin said.
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