Judge sets $5M bond for Colorado student accused of killing his dorm roommate and another person

By JESSE BEDAYN and COLLEEN SLEVIN
Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — A judge on Tuesday raised the bond for a student being held in the deaths of two people shot in a dorm room at a Colorado college to $5 million after a prosecutor said there were indications he tried to flee and had a gun when he was arrested.

The bond for Nicholas Jordan, 25, had been set at $1 million after he was arrested Monday in the deaths Friday of his roommate, Samuel Knopp, 24, and Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Judge Shannon Gerhart sided with prosecutors and agreed to raise it during Jordan’s first court appearance.

Robert Willett of the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office did not elaborate about any possible attempts to flee by Jordan, who is from Detroit. He said Jordan did not have strong ties to the community, had a firearm in his vehicle when he was arrested and posed a threat to witnesses and others at the university, about 69 miles (111 kilometers) south of Denver.

Jordan’s lawyer, Nick Rogers, said he would wait until Jordan’s next court hearing on Friday to address the bond amount because he had not been able to see the document outlining the evidence that led to Jordan’s arrest. The arrest affidavit is sealed and not available to the public, although Gerhart said it can be given to Rogers.

Rogers did not address the allegations against Jordan during Tuesday’s hearing. He is an attorney from the state public defender’s office, which does not comment on its cases.

Jordan’s sister, Dominque Jordan, said she did not know what happened, because police have not released any details or motive, but she said the accusations do not sound like something her brother would do. Another brother recently visited Jordan at school and there was no indication of any problems with his roommate, she said.

“This would not even be something that we would think would happen,” she said of her brother, whom she said “literally lived to go to school.”

Police said its motor vehicle theft unit found Jordan in a car and the tactical enforcement unit took him into custody Monday without incident in a residential area of Colorado Springs that is about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from campus. Jordan was “going through the normal routine of his day” when police contacted him, police spokesperson Ira Cronin said.

Jordan was Knopp’s roommate, another police spokesperson, Caitlin Ford, said. Ford did not know Montgomery’s relationship to the two men and did not have any information about what may have motivated the shooting.

Jordan was a student at the university at the time, university spokesperson Jenna Press. Knopp was also a student, but Montgomery was not enrolled, police 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 and not a random attack. They also said they did not think there was any “ongoing threat to the community.”

Police also obtained an arrest warrant for Jordan late Friday but did not reveal that he was a suspect until announcing his arrest.

Police acknowledged Sunday that they intentionally restricted the information released to the public during the first 48 hours of their probe as they worked to investigate what had happened at the school.

Dozens gathered for a memorial walk Monday at the school, which is home to more than 11,000 students and nearly 2,000 faculty and staff.

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Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.