Breaking News illustration. (Isabella Hammond/CU Independent)
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments published by the CU Board of Regents and CU System President Todd Saliman. It has also been updated to include email messages sent by CU Boulder community members to the regents.
Police are investigating two deaths at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs after a shooting Friday morning. UCCS has canceled classes for the day. Lockdown and shelter-in-place orders sent to students through the UCCS Alerts system have been lifted.
UCCS Police Department officials sent an alert at 6:21 a.m. ordering students to lock their doors, turn off the lights and hide in silence. Police had received reports of shots fired in a dorm room at on-campus housing in Alpine Village less than half an hour earlier.
According to a public statement from the Colorado Springs Police Department, UCCS police found two individuals dead in the room. CSPD is currently investigating these deaths as a homicide.
University and police spokespeople said there is no current threat to the campus.
“In times like this, the connectedness of the entire CU community is a source of strength for us all,” CU System President Todd Saliman said in a written statement hours after the shooting.
🚨UPDATE ON INVESTIGATION ON UCCS CAMPUS🚨
This morning, just before 6 AM, UCCS Dispatch received a call for service regarding shots fired in a dorm room on campus. https://t.co/QBMs0RIVdQ
— Colorado Springs Police Department (@CSPDPIO) February 16, 2024
In response to news of the shooting, some students, community members and University of Colorado Boulder Student Government members have posted their frustration online.
Rachel Hill, a CU Boulder alum and former CUSG tri-executive, alluded on X to last year’s efforts to appeal the CU Board of Regents to ban concealed carry on campus. The issue has quietly disappeared from the Regents’ agendas, despite the support for the ban from CUSG, student government members across the CU System and local government officials.
“I think the Board of Regents are cowards,” Hill said. “It’s appalling to see them tweet on Twitter (X) things like ‘Thoughts and prayers’ and ‘It’s tragic that this is happening.’ They have every power to take guns off campus.”
While system-wide petitioning has died down, CUSG has picked up the efforts to express support for a ban on concealed carry on campuses. On Thursday night, the legislative council passed a resolution to endorse SB24-131, a new state bill introduced earlier this February. The bill prohibits carrying firearms in several “sensitive places,” including university and college campuses.
The CU System allows anyone with a valid permit to carry their weapon onto its university campuses. However, this does not include areas for special events or residence halls. Alpine Village is one of these restricted areas.
This year, CUSG Tri-Executive Chase Cromwell is leading the push for the ban. While he said it was too early to speak on the issue of concealed carry in relation to the UCCS shooting, Cromwell said that he was happy to support the state legislature for CU Boulder.
“I think the gun violence epidemic is a stain on American society, and we need people to take action wherever they can,” Cromwell said. “We’ve got to stop assuming that somebody else is going to take action.”
Later, on Friday evening, Cromwell emailed the regents and condemned what he called their inaction.
“Your willingness to maintain the status quo continues to encourage a culture that believes guns are the answer and blood is just the price we pay for freedom,” he wrote. “I believe every campus in this state should ban concealed carry. I believe our system should be the first. I believe everyone is waiting for someone to lead. I believe it’s you or it’s nobody.”
Hours after the shooting, the CU Board of Regents published a statement. A university system spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
“We were saddened to learn about this morning’s tragedy at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus, which authorities are currently investigating,” the regents office said in a statement. “As we are learning from communications being sent by law enforcement authorities and campus leadership, it appears this was an isolated incident.”
Henry Larson contributed to this story.
Contact Editor-in-Chief Isabella Hammond at isabella.hammond@colorado.edu.
