Two people found dead inside a University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus dorm room on Friday have been identified by police, after revealing the incident appears to be isolated and is being investigated as a homicide, not a murder-suicide.
The Colorado Springs Police Department, on Sunday, identified the victims as 24-year-old Samuel Knopp of Parker, Colorado, and 26-year-old Celie Rain Montgomery of Pueblo, Colorado.
Knopp, police added, was enrolled at the university as a student while Montgomery was not.
Just before 6 a.m. on Friday, university police received a call that shots were fired from the Crestone House, a campus dormitory.
A police officer stands outside a dorm in the Village at Alpine Valley housing, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, as police investigate a shooting on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)
When officers responded to the room, they found a man and woman inside, later identified as Knopp and Montgomery, who were both dead, each with one gunshot wound to the head.
The campus went into lockdown briefly on Friday, which was lifted nearly an hour-and-a-half later.
The campus was closed for the day in response to the shooting.
The Colorado Springs Police Department received a request for assistance, and the department’s homicide unit responded and took over the investigation.
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Police officer cruiser at the scene of a crime in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
An autopsy was conducted on the two bodies by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office, which identified the two victims.
The Coroner’s Office is currently working on the cause and manner of death, as both are being investigated as homicide.
Police said Sunday that the primary focus of the investigation has been on the victims and pursuing justice for them and their families.
The investigation remains active as detectives continue to develop additional leads and potential suspect details.
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“Given this case’s active and fluid nature, additional information about those leads and any potential suspect details will not be released at this time,” a press release from the department read.
The department also said the investigation so far has indicated this is an isolated incident between parties who were known to each other, and not just a random attack against the school or other students at the university.
“While acknowledging the difficulty of the situation and the withholding of information in the initial stages of the investigation, we owe it to the victims and their families to deliver accountability and justice for this horrific act,” police said. “These are the third and fourth homicides in the City of Colorado Springs this year. At this time last year, there were two homicides.”
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Police encourage anyone with information or who is a witness to the investigation to contact them at 719-444-7000 or by calling Crime Stoppers at 719-634-STOP (7867) or 1-800-222-8477.
Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
