Suspect in University of Utah fatal shooting found dead
SALT LAKE CITY — A man suspected of shooting and killing a University of Utah student was found dead early Tuesday inside a church about three hours after the shooting that closed down the campus, according to a broadcast report.
The female student was shot outside a dormitory on campus just before 10 p.m. and was not immediately identified. But authorities said she had had a relationship with the shooter, identified as Melvin Rowland.
Police followed Rowland into a church after he was seen at about at about 1 a.m., University of Utah Police Lt. Brian Wahlin told KUTV.
Wahlin said Rowland’s body was found inside the church.
The University of Utah also tweeted that Rowland had been located and was “no longer a threat.”
The female student’s body was found in a car near the university’s medical towers, Wahlin said earlier.
“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.
