COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As students at UCCS returned to classes for the first time since Friday's shooting, it was a quiet day on campus.
"It's a bit weird being back here," said junior Tyler Morris.
After Samuel Knopp and Celie Rain Montgomery were found dead in their dorm, students like Salem Williams say the campus is still mourning.
"To be honest, a lot of people are grieving, and a lot of people did know Sam," she said.
Josiah Cole, a music minor at UCCS, says he was able to perform with Knopp and describes him as one of the most well-liked people on campus.
"He was a beautiful person, he was friends with everybody. The least controversial person I know," said Cole. "Dude, he could play any guitar. Classical guitar, he could shred on the electric guitar. Just playing with him was so fun. We did a music project together over the summer, a music festival. Man, just hanging out with him, he was an even better person than he was a musician."
Williams is still shaken up after Friday when she was concerned for a friend who lives in a dorm near where the tragedy happened.
"I was texting her and texting her like 'Are you okay, are you okay, please respond to me.' That hour where I didn't hear anything from her was one of the scariest of my life," she said. "It makes me feel really scared because I'm from Dallas, and in my high school, people would bring guns, we had drug dogs, and I literally came here so I could get away from that."
UCCS currently has mental health resources on campus like counseling, therapy dogs, and free lunches. The school tells me they hope to keep them there through the end of the week.
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