Police communication during UCCS double homicide investigation draws criticism from community
Christian Murdock, The Gazette
On the evening of Feb. 16, just before 6 p.m., the Colorado Springs Police Department announced via social media that the two bodies discovered at a dorm on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus were being investigated as a double homicide.
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In a thread on X, earlier the same day the Police Department stated: “we don’t believe there is an ongoing threat to the community.”
Nicholas Jordan, 25, would go on to be arrested on Monday morning for allegedly causing the deaths of Samuel Knopp, 24, and Celie Rain Montgomery, 26.
Colorado Springs police identified the suspect they say was involved in a double homicide on the UCCS campus Friday as 25-year-old Nicholas Jordan of Detroit. Jordan was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder.
Jordan was not identified as the suspect in the double homicide by the Police Department until his arrest, despite a warrant being issued for his arrest on Friday, according to court records.
Frustration from community members online was apparent in the responses to several posts from the Police Department on X.
As a parent of a UCCS student sitting here 1030 miles away, I’m calling out CSPD, UCCSPD & UCCS Admin for declaring the morning of the shooting that there was no threat to students or general public. The suspect WAS OUT AND ABOUT IN THE PUBLIC, & IN A CAR! A threat pure & simple!
— GSLKB (@GSLKB) February 20, 2024
Hello. My son attends UCCS. We need an update. Release basic information please. Is the suspect in custody? Who are the victims? Was the suspect a student? How do I feel safe sending my son to college at this point? Help please. This is so sad.
— Nate Osborn (@NateGOsborn) February 17, 2024
Two College students MURDERED on campus in college dorms yet YOU don’t consider it an imminent threat to the public? Keystone cops at its finest, better bring in State police.
— Raushaun Harrison (@RaushaunHa44913) February 18, 2024
Both are being investigated as a homicide but no current threat to the community? I don’t understand the logic here
— Fire Keefe (@KeefesTrash) February 17, 2024
“As a parent of a UCCS student sitting here 1030 miles away, I’m calling out CSPD, UCCSPD & UCCS Admin for declaring the morning of the shooting that there was no threat to students or general public,” said one user. “The suspect WAS OUT AND ABOUT IN THE PUBLIC, & IN A CAR! A threat pure & simple!”
At a press conference Thursday morning, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade acknowledged that he had spoken to several community members who were “frustrated” with the perceived lack of transparency from the Police Department over the weekend.
“I feel like every challenge provides an opportunity to be better, and where we could have done better, is communicate every day. Even if we don’t want to communicate sensitive information that could jeopardize an active case, I think the lesson learned is we can still communicate,” Mobolade said. “(They) are now frustrated at the lack of communication, because sometimes no communication leads to this communication gap and it’s easy to start to fill in the blanks. I see how they got to a place of, ‘Yeah, we’re hearing you say that we’re safe, but we’re not safe because we’re not hearing anything.’ So know that’s something that we are following up on.”
While speaking with The Gazette, Jonathan Caudill, a criminology professor at UCCS, described why police departments often feel the need to withhold information from the public during an investigation.
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“I think the main motivation for police agencies to withhold information if it’s an active investigation is to preserve the integrity of the investigation,” Caudill said. “I think the protection of the integrity of the investigation is a powerful motivation.”
Some examples Caudill gave for why it may be prevalent for police to withhold information during an investigation is that potential interviewees may provide more information to police about a case if information hasn’t been released publicly, or, to potentially prevent a suspect from fleeing.
Caudill went on to state that police departments are often stuck with a difficult balancing act between protecting an investigation and keeping the public informed, both of which Caudill states are important, but one can often come at the detriment of the other.
“We want the person responsible for these actions to be held accountable,” Caudill said. “But on the other side, leaning too far the other way and being overly protective with information relevant to public safety may cause concern and an increased fear of crime.
“When you think about fear of crime … people experience all kinds of vicarious victimization through concerns of their own safety particularly when a suspect hasn’t been identified yet.”
The same sentiment was echoed by Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez in an interview with NBC News.
“We always weigh the balance between public safety and our ability to apprehend a suspect,” Vasquez said. “If we provide too much information how does that cause a suspect to flee the area. We had a tremendous amount of conversations really just trying to understand is there a risk, is there random shootings happening or was it targeted.”
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Vasquez was unavailable to speak with The Gazette to comment further on the communication practices of the department in homicide investigations.
Police Department spokesperson Ira Cronin provided the following statement to The Gazette via email:
“Our investigation showed this was an isolated incident between individuals who were known to one another, and this was not a random act of violence against the school or campus. I will add we were in close communication with UCCS PD, as well as UCCS officials on Friday and over the weekend, and the victim’s families. If we felt there was any larger threat to the community from this suspect, we would have made that known threat known.
“As Chief Vasquez said, we certainly understand the community’s need for information. CSPD frequently deals with people who are a threat to our community at various levels. We decide how to proceed in the best interest of public safety on a case-by-case basis. All cases are different, and these are not easy decisions. In this case, we were able to apprehend the suspect in three days without any other community member being harmed, no officers were harmed, and the suspect himself was not harmed in the process of apprehending him.
“Now, the process of seeking justice for the victims and their families has begun.”
Ultimately, Caudill and Vazquez noted that despite frustrations from some community members law enforcement was able to arrest Jordan approximately 72 hours after the shooting with no further harm to the public.
“It paid off for us, we were able to get him (Jordan) in custody really quickly,” Vasquez said in his interview with NBC News.
However, Caudill stated that there was a “juxtaposition” between CSPD’s claims on social media that there was no active threat to the community and the lack of an arrest being made until Monday morning.
“I was uncertain with how to proceed with my weekend,” Caudill said.
In the interview with NBC News, Vasquez admitted that police “weren’t sure” where Jordan was located until his arrest.
In a phone conversation with The Gazette, Cronin stated that the use of the term “no active threat to the community” was made confidently by the department because of the information detectives had at the time that the shooting was an isolated incident between parties that knew each other.
“It’s always a balancing act,” Cronin stated on weighing the need of public information against the need to protect the case.
Jordan is scheduled to make his first appearance in 4th Judicial District Court on Friday morning, where attorneys are slated to discuss Jordan’s $5 million bond and the release of his probable cause affidavit.
At Jordan’s virtual advisement hearing on Tuesday, a request from the prosecution to have Jordan’s bond raised from $1 million to $5 million was granted after prosecutors claimed Jordan presented a flight risk and was planning to flee the state. The district attorney also said that Jordan was a potential danger to the community due to the nature of the charges and that a firearm was allegedly found in his vehicle at the time of his arrest.
Further details regarding the specifics of the double homicide have yet to be revealed due to the arrest affidavit for Jordan remaining sealed. Prosecutors at Jordan’s advisement hearing stated they would have no objection to the affidavit being unsealed.
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