SALT LAKE CITY (AP) —
The Latest on a fatal shooting on the University of Utah campus (all times local):
12:15 p.m.
Records show a man accused of killing a female University of Utah student on campus was a registered sex offender who spent nearly a decade in prison after pleading guilty to trying to lure an underage girl online.
Former prosecutor Paul Amann said Tuesday that 37-year-old Melvin Rowland was caught in an online sex crimes sting when a police officer posed as a 13-year-old girl, and after he was charged a woman reported he had sexually assaulted her after another online meeting.
Records show Rowland was released from prison in 2013 after spending nine years behind bars.
Police say he shot and killed 21-year-old student Lauren McCluskey late Monday. Her mother says she dumped him when she learned about his criminal history.
Authorities say Rowland later killed himself.
10:25 a.m.
The University of Utah police chief says a female student who was fatally shot on campus by a man she dated had filed a complaint against him earlier this month.
Chief Dale Brophy said Tuesday that Lauren McCluskey had filed a police report on Oct. 12 against Melvin Rowland.
Brophy said investigators had been working to build a case, but he declined to disclose details.
The victim’s mother, Jill McCluskey, says her daughter filed a harassment complaint after she broke up with Rowland.
Salt Lake City police say the 37-year-old Rowland killed himself overnight at a church after police tracked him down after the shooting.
Lauren McCluskey was a 21-year-old senior track athlete and communication major from Pullman, Washington. Her body was found in a car near a campus medical facility.
Jill McCluskey says in a statement that her daughter dated Rowland for about a month then ended the relationship on Oct. 9 when she learned he had lied about his age, name and criminal history.
A University of Utah student was shot and killed on campus by a former boyfriend, who was found dead hours later inside a church Tuesday, authorities said.
Lauren McCluskey, a senior from Pullman, Washington, was shot outside a dormitory just before 10 p.m. and police said she had had a relationship with the shooter, identified as Melvin Rowland.
Police followed Rowland, 37, into an off-campus church after he was spotted at about at about 1 a.m., University of Utah Police Lt. Brian Wahlin said.
Wahlin said Rowland’s body was found inside the church. Police didn’t provide circumstances of Rowland’s death.
The University of Utah also tweeted that Rowland had been located and was “no longer a threat.”
McCluskey was a track and field athlete and majored in communication. Local media reported she was 21.
University President Ruth Watkins said the university canceled classes Tuesday and scheduled a 5 p.m. vigil for McCluskey.
“As a campus community, we share grief over this tragic loss of life,” she said in a statement.
Athletics Director Mark Harlan said university counselors and psychologists were available to support McCluskey’s teammates, coaches and friends.
“This news has shaken not only myself but our entire University of Utah athletics family to its core,” he said.
McCuskey’s body was found in a car near the university’s medical towers, Wahlin said.
“It was really scary to look out the window and see. I saw 15 to 20 police officers right where we’re standing right now,” Tyler Olsen, a student who lives in family housing near the shooting scene, told the Deseret News. “I mean, you’re in your home, but nowhere feels safe in that moment.”
Last month, an ex-convict pleaded guilty to killing a University of Utah student from China using a gun stolen after another slaying. Austin Boutain, 24, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He and his wife were charged with hatching a carjacking plot that led to the October 2017 death of Chenwei Guo, whose parents live in Beijing and were devastated over the death of their only son at age 23.