My girlfriend just got this email from the school.
Begin forwarded message:
From: News Alert E-Memo <
memofrom@Colorado.edu>
Date: August 28, 2007 1:11:57 AM MDT
TO: All Students
FROM: Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson
SENDER:
ChanChat@colorado.eduDATE: 8/27/07
SUBECT: A Message to the CU-Boulder Campus Students:
I know most of you have learned of the unfortunate incident that occurred this
morning at the University Memorial Center. A freshman student at the
University of Colorado at Boulder has been released from the hospital following
a random stabbing by a middle-aged man who stormed the terrace of the campus
student union this morning.
The stabbing occurred about 9:43 a.m. when the suspect, who was arrested
immediately following the incident, approached the student at the University
Memorial Center. Both the student and the suspect were taken to a local
hospital. I am happy to report that the student, Michael G. Knorps, a
freshman finance major from Chicago, is doing very well. Doctors report that
he will be able to return to classes as early as tomorrow if he so desires.
I spoke to Michael shortly after the incident while he was at the hospital and
he was in remarkably good spirits. I have also kept in contact with Michael's
family throughout the day. Representatives of the Office of Victims Assistance
have been with Michael most of the day and are providing assistance to his
family as well.
I applaud the rapid response of law enforcement officials to this incident.
The Boulder County Sheriff's officer who responded first to the attack while it
was occurring had been directing traffic near the UMC. A Boulder Police
officer driving by also responded while the situation was in progress, and CU
Police responded within moments to assist in treating and evacuating the
victim, to secure and remove the assailant, and to conduct a thorough search
and investigation of the scene. The attacker's backpack and vehicle were
examined by Boulder City Police bomb experts who found no additional weapons or
hazardous materials.
The attacker, who has now been charged but is still undergoing medical care for
his self-inflicted wounds, has been identified as Kenton Drew Astin, 39, a
former temporary employee of the UMC. Astin had been employed here briefly as
part of a cooperative program between CU-Boulder and Chinook Clubhouse. His
employment here was uneventful. He had no performance or behavior issues
throughout his six months employment at UMC, which ended in April 2007.
Chinook Clubhouse is a program dedicated to enhancing the recovery of men and
women with mental illnesses. It provides opportunities for members to live,
work, learn, and socialize while contributing their talents in a community of
mutual support The Chinook Clubhouse, which is not affiliated with the
University, works with the Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to
offer transitional employment opportunities for its clients. We have worked
with the Chinook Clubhouse to provide temporary employment for a small number
of its clients for 17 years with no incidents.
The assailant, prior to his employment, had been charged with various crimes
including criminal intent to commit first degree murder, but had been found
-not guilty by reason of insanity- and ordered in to treatment at the Colorado
state mental hospital in Pueblo. He has been in rehabilitation and treatment
locally, under close supervision, since his release more than two years ago
and until this morning's incident had never demonstrated any aggressive
behavior. His temporary employment with the University was a part of his
return to being a productive member of the community. We have no reason to
believe that his prior employment was related in any way to today's attack.
Nevertheless, today's incident has compelled us to take several actions to
ensure a safe and secure campus for all our faculty, staff, students, visitors,
and the community at large.
Effective immediately, we will take the following
actions:
1) Conduct, criminal background checks on all new employees-permanent and
temporary employees alike. 2) Continue to do background checks on a number of existing employees
3) Review the status of our current background checks policy to determine
what changes are needed.
4) Initiate a comprehensive review of all -referred employment
relationships- like the one we have with the Chinook Clubhouse and suspend the
hiring of any new additions until this review is completed.5) Conduct a review of all temporary employees from these organizations and
place them on administrative leave with pay until criminal background checks
are completed.
We have made counseling services available to faculty, staff and students who
may need them. Students, faculty and staff emotionally affected by today's
incident are encouraged to contact one of several psychological services
offices on campus. Counseling will be made available on a walk-in basis in the
Office of Victim Assistance, in Counseling and Psychological Services, and
through the Center for Multicultural Affairs. All three offices are located on
the first and second floors of the Willard Administrative Center located just
northeast of Regent Hall.
Let me conclude by again extending our heartfelt thanks to the rapid response
of law enforcement officials on the scene who prevented this horrible, random
attack from escalating into something far more dangerous and harmful. Campus
security will continue on a heightened state of awareness with increased
patrols of the campus and housing areas for the remainder of this week. I
encourage anyone seeing anything suspicious to take action and report it
immediately to the CUPD Dispatch at (303) 492-6666.
I also want to express the deepest regret and sympathy to Michael Knorps and
his family for this terrible ordeal they have experienced today. We endeavor
to do all that we can do to ensure a safe and welcoming environment here on the
CU-Boulder campus for all of our students, faculty, staff and visitors.
Although today's attack was a single, unprovoked and random act of violence
that defies our imagination and challenges the very best of planning and
preparation, we will be ever vigilant in our efforts to make this the safe and
secure university environment we want it to continue to be. We are thankful
that Michael is safe and has been released into the loving arms of his family.
He is a brave young man and, from my conversation with him, I am very impressed
at how well he is handling this traumatic event.
Finally, I encourage all of you to sign up for the emergency text/email
messaging service that was implemented for CU-Boulder just last week and was
used for the first time today to alert the campus of this incident. Our study
of the Virginia Tech shootings and emergency response led us to adopt this form
of emergency notification as one way to get critical information out much more
quickly and reliably than email.
The text/email messaging service is intended to convey time-critical
information in emergencies - with additional information on breaking
news/events provided on the CU-Boulder website which was continuously updated
throughout the day. The university issued a text message at 10:20 a.m. to
approximately 1,300 students, faculty and staff members who had signed up for
the service since it was activated less than a week ago on Aug. 23. I
encourage you all to sign up for this important free service. Students,
faculty and staff with a colorado.edu e-mail address can sign up online through
CUConnect at
http://cuconnect.colorado.edu/ or by going to
http://www.colorado.edu/alerts/
