CU Student Stabbed, Victim And Suspect Known

Scroll for updates . . .
**Update 2--CU to conduct background checks on all personnel, something it had not previously done:

CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson announced on Monday that CU will now start doing criminal background checks on all employees - a practice they previously did not do. Peterson says had they known Astin's background, he would not have been hired.

Eight other employees referred by the agency that placed Astin are on paid leave.

Astin is believed to be schizophrenic.

---

**Update--Suspect alias "Dylan Klebold", worked at UMC restaurant:

Sources identified the suspect as Kenton Drew Astin, 39, of Boulder, 7NEWS Investigators said. Astin has a history of mental illness, a lengthy criminal record and has been known to go by the alias Dylan Klebold -- one of the killers in the Columbine High School shootings, according to court records.

More on the mental illness aspect.

CU's new email emergency alert had its first test, and with the message appearing some 38 minutes after the incident and only sent to the 500 or so students that have signed up, it'll need some work.

---

Given the large number of wackos attracted to college campuses across the country and especially to Boulder, today's (thankfully non-fatal) attack is not that surprising:

A University of Colorado freshman, identified by family members as Michael George Knorps, is hospitalized with a knife wound after being cut outside of the student center this morning, the first day of classes on the Boulder campus.

Knorps, who is from Illinois, was coherent and able to talk after the incident, campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard said. He is undergoing surgery, and his parents have been notified.
. . .
The suspect, whom 7NEWS has named as Kenton Astin, 39, of Boulder, stabbed himself several times in the chest after the incident, which happened around 9:40 a.m. on the west terrace of the University Memorial Center, Hilliard said.
. . .
Witnesses said they initially mistook the episode as staged drama.

“Everyone thought he was doing a skit or something, but it ended up being real,” said Cory Ravelson, a CU freshman.

“It looked like a Shakespeare act,” said Nate Solder, a CU sophomore who said he heard the man yelling, then saw him jump toward Knorps and slice his throat.

“It seemed so randomly weird,” Solder said.

Why not surprising? Anyone that has visited CU-Boulder can attest to the number of "interesting" folk who populate the campus and are neither students, staff, or faculty. Such "colorful" residents are mostly peaceful and non-interfering, though they could use a shower.

Secondly, the reaction of the witnesses to the incident is indicative of the attitude at CU-Boulder that the extraordinary or outrageous is both ordinary and even expected.

Thankfully the student is recovering and the attacker will be arrested as soon as his stint in the hospital wraps up. Given the attacks at the high school in Bailey and the "Emperor" shooting at the state Capitol, this story could have ended much more tragically, and provided yet more negative attention for CU.