This past Thursday the 24th of February, an attack turned homicide took place just outside of the FRCC Boulder county campus.
According to the Longmont Times-Call the attacker, Kamaloni Manu, believed the victim, Brandon Murphy, to be a child predator and hit him over 20 times with a stick. The stick measured one and a half inches in diameter at the tip. “Murphy has no criminal history in Colorado relating to child sexual exploitation or abuse,” says Nicky Andrews, a reporter for the Longmont Times-Call, in her most recent coverage of the event. Manu has since been apprehended and is in police custody.
The police were initially contacted by a bystander who witnessed the altercation and followed Manu as he left the scene. Andrews writes “While on scene, police said they contacted two Front Range Community College security staff members. According to the affidavit, both saw Manu hit what they thought was a tree and went out to contact Manu. Manu stopped and walked south on Miller Drive. Police said at this point the security guards became aware of the victim but neither of them called police.” FRCC is cooperating with the police in their investigation and has provided police with footage of the attack.
In response to the incident, FRCC sent three emails to the student body. The first was sparse, containing only the barest of details, letting students know that the attack had occurred and that there was no ongoing threat to the campus. The following email, sent approximately 5 hours later, contained some additional information about the attack, and shared that campus security would be increasing patrols and encouraged students to walk in groups, report suspicious persons, and utilize the on-campus escort system.
Kamaloni Manu has been formally charged with first-degree murder and a preliminary hearing has been set for May 29th. The investigation is ongoing.
