A freshman student at the University of Colorado at Boulder was resting after surgery Monday afternoon to repair a neck wound following a random stabbing by a middle-aged man who stormed the terrace of the campus student union in Boulder this morning. The student聮s family has consented to his identification. He is Michael George Knorps, 17, of Winnetka, Ill.
The stabbing occurred about 9:43 a.m. when the suspect, Kenton Drew Astin, 39, parked his vehicle on Euclid Street across from the University Memorial Center, quickly exited the vehicle, began shouting incomprehensibly and then attacked Knorps as the young man was trying to exit the UMC building. Both Knorps and Astin were taken to a local hospital. University officials have been in contact with the student聮s family and Chancellor G.P. 聯Bud聰 Peterson talked to the student and members of the student聮s family throughout the day.
聯All campus resources have been called into action to respond to this random incident and to ensure the safety of our students and everyone on campus,聰 said Peterson. 聯We are relieved that the student was not more seriously injured and that he appears to be responding well to his treatment.聰
Vice Chancellor Ron Stump visited the student at the hospital this morning and said that he is expected to make a full recovery.
Chancellor Peterson said, 聯CU Police, in cooperation with Boulder Police and the Boulder County Sheriff聮s Department, acted quickly in response to the incident, subdued the assailant and made an arrest within minutes. We are conducting a full investigation.聰
CU-Boulder hosted press briefings throughout the day with the campus spokesperson and other CU-Boulder officials, including Peterson and CU Police Chief Joe Roy.
The stabbing occurred on the terrace of the University Memorial Center, located at 1669 Euclid Ave., on the main campus at CU-Boulder. The UMC is the student union located in the heart of the campus at a busy city intersection at Broadway and Euclid Avenue.
The suspect arrived on campus by car and slammed into a parked car on Euclid Avenue before heading to the UMC Terrace, an outdoor patio in the front of the building that faces Broadway, one of Boulder聮s busiest streets. The suspect carried a backpack and early reports indicated the backpack contained a bomb or bomb-making equipment but those reports were later determined to be false.
Witnesses reported the man was talking and yelling in an 聯incoherent聰 manner and that he waved a knife. The suspect grabbed the male student from behind and drew the knife across the student聮s throat, cutting him. But the student was able to get away from the suspect quickly.
A Boulder Police officer and a Boulder County Sheriff聮s Deputy who were in the vicinity responded immediately, confronting the suspect and ordering him to drop the knife. The suspect began to stab himself with the knife and officers deployed a Taser to disable the suspect and then took him into custody.
Knorps was transported to the hospital and was treated for wounds to his throat. Family members, some of whom are residents of Boulder, were reported to be joining the student at the hospital and he was visited by Vice Chancellor Stump and Dean of Students Elease Robbins.
The suspect was transported to the hospital with injuries reported to be serious from the self-inflicted stab wounds.
Late in the day Monday, campus officials learned that the suspect Kenton Astin, 39, had been a temporary employee of CU-Boulder from Oct. 10, 2006 through April 10, 2007. Astin had an incident-free employment record as a cashier in the UMC聮s grill but his previous arrest record was not known by university officials until this afternoon. For more information see the fact sheet .
The university issued a text message at 10:20 a.m. to approximately 1,300 students, faculty and staff members who have signed up for the service since it was activated less than a week ago on Aug. 23. The campus has been encouraging members of the university community to sign up for the service by going to the Web and following enrollment instructions.
Students, faculty and staff with a colorado.edu e-mail address can sign up online through CUConnect at cuconnect.colorado.edu/ or by going to .
Information about the incident also has been posted on CU-Boulder聮s Information Lines at (303) 492-4636 (INFO) and (303) 735-4636 (INFO). Further information will be updated on the CU-Boulder Web site at .
Students, faculty and staff emotionally affected by the Aug. 27 incident are encouraged to contact one of several psychological services offices on campus, according to university officials. Counseling is available in the Office of Victim Assistance, and 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.
Counseling services are available to students, faculty and staff through the Office of Counseling Services (303) 492-6766. More information on counseling services and support programs is available on the Web at Counseling and Psychological Services, Office of Victim Assistance; Wardenburg Health Center, and the Center for Multicultural Affairs, .