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CU stabbing suspect has history of assaults, mental illness

Julie Poppen and George Kochaniec Jr., Rocky Mountain News

Published August 27, 2007 at midnight

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BOULDER — A man who stabbed himself and said he had a bomb slit a freshman's throat in front of the University of Colorado student center on the first day of classes, witnesses said.

The CU freshman, Michael George Knorps, of Illinois, did not have life-threatening injuries, CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said. He was undergoing surgery and was expected to be released soon.

The suspect, who was shot with a Taser, apprehended and taken to a hospital in serious condition, was identified as Kenton Astin, 39, of Boulder. Astin is a mentally disabled patient of the Mental Health Center of Boulder County, the Campus Press reported.

Astin has been involved with the Chinook Clubhouse, a vocational placement center for mentally disabled people, the student newspaper said.

Astin has a history of arrests for assault, theft and drugs, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. He had been sent to the state mental hospital in 2001 for the stabbing of a 21-year-old Longmont man, the Daily Camera in Boulder reported. He had been acquitted by reason of insanity in that case.

Among several aliases Astin used was Dylan Klebold, one of the two killers in the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, according to CBI records.

The attacker pulled up in a gray Jeep Cherokee and ran to the University Memorial Center's terrace shortly before 10 a.m. and began shouting threats, CU spokesman Hilliard said.

Students told police the assailant said something about the end of time.

Freshman Vanessa Rawlings told the Campus Press she had just stepped off the Buff Bus near Euclid Avenue for her first day of college when she saw the man stabbing himself with a knife.

"He was yelling about Columbine, and everyone was running," said the studio arts major from Miami Beach.

The man then grabbed Knorps and cut his throat, authorities said.

"He sliced that kid's throat like it was nothing," Rawlings told the Campus Press.

Knorps was able to run away and get help, witnesses said.

A Boulder County sheriff's deputy and university police subdued the attacker with a Taser after he had stabbed himself repeatedly in the torso, Hilliard said.

He and Knorps were taken to Boulder Community Hospital, police said.

Biology major Nate Solder, 19, said he was on his way to buy some books at the UMC when he saw the attacker stabbing himself, then saw him jump Knorps and cut his throat, Solder said.

"I thought it was a prank," Solder said. "It looked like Shakespeare or something."

Solder then saw some blood, but the injured student was able to get away.

The man continued yelling and began stabbing himself in the chest with what appeared to be a 6- or 7-inch steak knife, Solder said.

Police responded quickly with guns drawn. The suspect said he had a bomb and was holding what looked like a cellular phone.

The man refused to drop the knife and said, "What are you going to do to me, shoot me?" Solder said.

When he refused to drop the knife, police used a Taser on him. The man convulsed, then dropped to the ground and was apprehended.

A roommate at Astin's residence said he was in the hospital, and nearby residents said police cars swooped into the neighborhood shortly after the attack.

The area near the UMC — including Euclid at Broadway — was cordoned off with police tape.

Dispatchers reported that officers later found a backpack with bomb-making material on the patio.

Julie Brooks, a spokeswoman with Boulder police, said officers were initially dispatched to the scene to handle the traffic due to road closures. She said the department's bomb squad was also dispatched.

Officers shot off parts of the windows of the Jeep before suited bomb squad officers used a long yellow pole to poke inside the vehicle looking for explosives.

A parent of a CU student told the Daily Camera in an online posting that the student received a global text message from the university by 10:15 notifying her and other students of the stabbing.

The message, part of a new service instituted at CU last week, also told students that the suspect was in custody and that the UMC and Euclid were closed.

Students were told to go to class.

Cory Ravelson, another witness, said he initially didn't believe the attack was real.

"Everyone thought he was doing a skit or something, but it ended up being real," Ravelson said.

University officials said Knorps' parents were immediately informed of the incident.

"It's the kind of thing you don't want to happen any day, particularly the first day of school," Hilliard said.

Rocky staff writer Rosa Ramirez and the Daily Camera contributed to this report.

poppenj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5176