Vernon Man Kills Woman, Father and Himself in Wyoming College Attack

A 25-year-old Vernon man travelled to Casper, WY, where he fatally stabbed a woman and then drove to Casper College where he proceeded to kill his father with a bow-and-arrow on Friday, police said.               

The man, identified as Chris Krumm, then killed himself in a college classroom where his father, James Krumm, 56, was a professor, according to a news release issued from the Vernon Police Department.  

Chris Krumm lived at 24 Grove St., near the Amerbelle Complex, an address were Vernon police detectives and the Hartford bomb squad executed a search warrant on Friday, said Lt. William Meier, Vernon police spokesman. Meier said Wyoming authorities notified local police on Friday about the Vernon connection at the college.

“This is still an open case and police have no further comment at this time,” Meier said.

According to Vernon police, the incident began when multiple police responders from Natrona County in Wyoming came to Casper College shortly after 9 a.m. after receiving reports that people had been stabbed in the Wold Physical Science Building.

A police investigation determined that Chris Krumm stopped at the home of Heidi Arnold, 42, where he proceeded to stab her to death to before driving to the college where he carried a compound bow and two knives covered by a blanket into the science center.

According to the Hartford Courant, which first reported the story, Arnold was James Krumm’s girlfriend and the couple lived at Arnold’s home at the 3700 block of Hawthorne Avenue, where the stabbing happened.

Inside, Chris Krumm stepped into his father’s classroom, Room 325, and shot him in the head with an arrow in front of a group of students, knocking James Krumm to the ground, police said. Despite being mortally wounded, James Krumm got up and fought his son, enabling the students to escape unharmed, police said.

No one witnessed the final minutes of the struggle, however police concluded that Chris Krumm stabbed himself multiple times before driving a large knife into his father’s chest, Vernon police said.

Both the father and son died on scene.

Police have not determined a motive in the crime, although they said Chris Krumm acted alone and no one else was harmed. The incident is still under investigation.

“The City of Casper would like to express its deepest sympathies to all friends, family and others affected by this tragedy,” the Vernon police news release read.