Accused UCCS Shooter appears in El Paso County Court
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The man accused of shooting two people in a UCCS dorm, Nicholas Jordan, appeared in an El Paso County courtroom for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
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This is Jordan's first appearance in court since he was found competent to stand trial.
Three members of law enforcement who worked on the investigation testified in front of the court for the preliminary hearing.
The first was UCCS police officer Derek D'mellow. D'mellow was one of the first officers on the scene. D'mellow told the court that when he and two fellow officers arrived at dorm room 108 they found two people, later identified as Samual Knopp and Celie Rain Montgomery, dead with abdominal injuries.
Colorado Springs Police Department Detective Matt Kerr testified to having interviewed Giancarlo Argueta, a roommate of Knopp and Jordan who was sleeping in the room next to where the shooting occurred.
Kerr said Argueta told him on Feb. 16 he awoke to multiple loud bangs, which he thought were gunshots, groaning, and the sound of a woman in distress. Argueta then told Kerr he tried to call Knopp on his cell phone, but got no answer. Then Arugeta called campus police but didn't leave his room because he was worried the person who fired the shots might still be in the dorm.
The last person to testify was Ed Crowfoot CSPD's lead detective on the case. During his testimony, Crowfoot spoke about his interrogation interview with Jordan after he had been picked up on a warrant. Crowfoot said initially Jordan denied being in Colorado Springs during the time the shooting happened but instead either in Denver or Pueblo. Crowfoot then presented Jordan with an entry log from UCCS that showed a key assigned to Jordan entered the east side of the dorm building where the shooting occurred twice. Once at 3:53 a.m. and the second at 5:42 a.m.
Crowfoot said Jordan then changed his story and said he had been on the UCCS campus and went inside to use the bathroom.
Crowfoot also testified that during a search of Jordan's car police found a Taurus brand 40 caliber handgun and an AK-47. Crowfoot said ballistics testing showed all 11 cartridges found on the scene were fired from the handgun found in Jordan's car.
The District Attorney spoke to the press following the court appearance. That can be watched above.
RELATED: Court documents show UCCS shooting victim made complaints about suspect
Jordan will next appear in court in October to enter a plea.
