A University of Colorado Colorado Springs student made several complaints to university officials about his roommate, including one about a death threat, a month before he and a woman were found fatally shot and his roommate was charged in their deaths, unsealed court documents revealed Friday.
Nicholas Jordan, 25, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his UCCS roomate Samuel Knopp and Celie Montgomery, who were found in a campus dorm about 6 a.m. Feb. 16.
A district court judge Friday unsealed the affidavit with new details on Jordan’s arrest, as Colorado Springs police and university officials remained tight-lipped over the shooting and Jordan’s possible motive.
Jordan is also accused of menacing one of the victims, based on actions that began in January, more than a month before the shooting, court records show.
Another person living in the dorm with Knopp and Jordan said he and Knopp had reported Jordan several times to the university for “unsafe living conditions” and smoking in the room, according to the arrest affidavit.
Following an argument over trash in the dorm, Jordan told Knopp he would “kill him” and that there would be consequences if he asked him to take out the trash again, the affidavit said. UCCS police and housing documented three complaints on Jan. 9 related to Jordan.
It’s unclear what steps UCCS police took in response to Knopp’s complaints. A university spokesman declined to answer any questions from The Colorado Sun.
Jordan filed an electronic request to withdraw from classes and housing the day before the shooting, court documents said.
Fourth Judicial District Judge David Shakes unsealed Jordan’s arrest affidavit arguing the affidavit should be made public to the community.
“Transparency about what we do at the courthouse is important,” Shakes said.
Colorado Springs police arrested Jordan, of Detroit, three days after Knopp and Montgomery were found dead inside a dorm room. Jordan had a handgun in his car when police found him Monday morning about three miles from the university campus, prosecutors said in court earlier this week.
In court Friday, prosecutors said he also had a fully loaded AK-47 assault rifle inside the car, asking the judge to keep his bond at $5 million.
“If you were to be convicted of the top two counts in this case, the sentence is life imprisonment without possibility of parole. He would never get out of prison, and so anyone facing that kind of a sentence will be tempted to flee,” said Robert Willet with the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office.
Jordan is a junior at UCCS and studying accounting, his public defender said. His family lives in Detroit, he said.
Jordan is being held in the El Paso County jail on a $5 million cash bond.
A preliminary hearing was set for March 27.