Nicholas Jordan sits in the jurors box as Nick Rogers, second left, from the Public Defenders Office, who is representing Jordan, addresses the court during Jordan first appearance at El Paso County 4th Judicial Court Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Colorado Springs Colo. Jordan was arrested Monday, Feb. 19, in the deaths of his roommate, Samuel Knopp, 24, and Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP, Pool)
DENVER (AP) – A college student charged in the Feb. 16 killing of his roommate and another person told his roommate he would “kill him” if he was asked to take out the trash again, according to a court document released Friday.
The dispute in January was recounted by a third roommate in the dormitory pod where Nicholas Jordan and Samuel Knopp lived, Jordan’s arrest affidavit said. Police and housing records confirmed the interactions, the document said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
A student has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, felony menacing and committing a crime of violence in the shooting deaths of two people in a dorm room at a Colorado college.
A judge announced the charges against Nicholas Jordan during a court hearing Friday. Jordan is accused in the Feb. 16 killing of his roommate, Samuel Knopp, 24, and Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, in a dorm room at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
No details have been released about what happened before the killings, but Judge David Shakes ruled that a “bare bones” court document laying out the evidence that led to Jordan’s arrest could be made public.
Jordan’s lawyer, Nick Rogers, objected to the release of the document, in part because he said his client – a junior studying accounting – would continue to be “prosecuted in the media.” He did not address the allegations against Jordan during the hearing and tried unsuccessfully to have Jordan released from jail without paying any bail.
The warrant for Jordan’s arrested was issued on the first day of the investigation but the fact that he was a suspect was not revealed until he was arrested Monday in a residential area of Colorado Springs, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from campus.
In addition to a gun that prosecutors have said was found in Jordan’s car, authorities recently learned that he also had a fully loaded AK-47, Robert Willett of the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office told Shakes. Jordan had a temporary job and was in the process of withdrawing from the university, he said.
According to police, the bodies of Knopp and Montgomery were found after shots were fired at around 6 a.m. Friday in Crestone House, a dorm in a complex that offers apartment-style living for undergraduates and graduate students. A lockdown across campus lasted for about 90 minutes before being scaled back to just the complex.
On Friday, police said the deaths appeared to be an “isolated incident” involving people who knew each other rather than a random attack. They said there was no “ongoing threat to the community.”
