COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The man who fatally shot three people during a rampage through the streets of Colorado Springs gave no indication he was planning violence in a strange video he posted online two days earlier.
Noah Harpham, 33, instead expressed displeasure with his father for allegedly falling under the sway of a preacher whose controversial church emphasizes signs of God’s miracles and supernatural healing. Harpham can be seen pacing around his apartment in the minute-long “video blog” post.
Authorities identified Harpham as the gunman on Monday but a motive for the downtown shootings, which happened Saturday in broad daylight, remained unknown. Adding to the list unanswered questions was Harpham’s video, in which he shows no weapons and makes no threats.
Witnesses said Harpham had a rifle in one hand and a revolver in the other when he first killed a bicyclist. He then calmly walked less than a mile and fatally shot two women on the porch of a sobriety house. Harpham was then killed in a gunbattle with police.
Colorado Springs police late Monday identified the victims as Andrew Alan Myers, 35; Jennifer Michelle Vasquez, 42; and Christina Rose Baccus-Gallela, 34.
Harpham struggled with alcoholism, which his mother chronicled extensively in her book, “Sober Mercies: How Love Caught Up With a Christian Drunk.” But police have not said whether there was any link between his substance abuse problems and the fact that two of his victims were women who themselves were in addiction recovery.
