COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The deaths of Samuel Knopp and Celie Rain Montgomery in a shooting at UCCS last week have shocked students and the local music community. Knopp was a music student and guitarist for a local rock band, and now his former bandmates are planning a concert in his honor.
"Sam really had a way of just captivating everyone he came in contact with. He was really the last person I would have ever expected that would get on someone's bad side and become the victim of anything," said Sam's friend and former bandmate Anthony Scornavacco.
Scornavacco is the drummer for Æternum, a local rock band that Sam Knopp was a part of. He says that Sam was a once-in-a-lifetime musician, and impressed everyone he knew.
"When he got behind the guitar, it was like he transformed into a totally different person," he said. "I think that if he was alive 20 years from now, he would probably be one of the stars like Steve Vai or Van Halen. I think he would be the guy that every twelve-year-old boy has a poster hanging off in their bedroom," said Scornavacco.
The band had already scheduled a concert for April when they learned about Knopp's death. Now, they want to use that time to honor him.
"One of the things that we really wanted to do was we want to help bring his family closure. We wanted them to feel the energy that you feel in a live concert, and it be nothing but love," Scornavacco explained.
The concert is happening this Friday, April 26. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased online or in person. The band is expecting to sell out the show.
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