GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—Police Monday remained baffled as to why a man who grew up in Alaska and was staying with a relative in suburban Denver apparently drove 240 miles to kill a dentist and the wife of a former Mesa State College president.
The spouses of those killed survived Saturday morning’s shooting in the driveway of a home near a country club, about a mile from an Interstate 70 exit.
Suspect Stefan Alexander Martin-Urban, 22, died Sunday around 1 p.m. of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had no criminal history, no ties to the Grand Junction area and no apparent link to the victims.
During a news conference Monday afternoon, police said receipts in Martin-Urban’s car indicate he bought gas at a Grand Junction-area gas station Friday morning then bought food that evening in Green River, Utah, about 85 miles west of the city.
Police also said survivor Michael Gallagher, a former Mesa State College president, told investigators that Martin-Urban may have followed them from their home to the home of dentist Terry Fine, and his wife Linda, where the shooting took place.
Police were seeking the public’s help in learning what else Martin-Urban did or where he was before the shootings. Police were following up on several leads received by Monday on a tip line.
The Denver Post reported that Martin-Urban grew up in Fairbanks and graduated from Lathrop High School.
A woman who answered the phone at the home of Martin-Urban’s mother Sunday read a statement to the paper: “The family of Stefan Martin-Urban extends their heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and requests their privacy be respected as they grieve their losses.”
The office where Terry Fine worked also requested privacy. “Dr. Terry Fine was a true mentor, friend and professional to all who knew him,” a statement released by Fine and Naranja Family Dentistry said.
Police say Martin-Urban had been living with a relative in the Denver suburb of Lakewood for the last seven weeks after moving there from the Los Angeles area. The relative told Lakewood police Friday morning that he was missing.
Martin-Urban shot himself Saturday as authorities closed in on his vehicle after shots were fired earlier that morning outside the home of dentist Terry Fine, 61, police said.
At the time, Fine and his wife, Linda, were meeting up with Gallagher and his wife, Floyce, to head on a vacation, police said.
Investigators determined Martin-Urban fired more than a dozen rounds, some from close range, from a 9mm handgun and reloaded at least once. Martin-Urban purchased the gun Oct. 2 from Green Mountain Guns in Lakewood. Store manager Keith Martin confirmed the purchase and said the store had spoken with police, but he declined further comment.
Investigators believe Martin-Urban had ammunition and spare magazines in a canvas bag he was carrying.
Floyce Gallagher, 60, and Terry Fine died. Michael Gallagher, who was not hurt, drove a wounded Linda Fine to St. Mary’s Hospital, where she was listed in good condition.
“What (Mike Gallagher) had in the forefront of his mind was to save as many people as he could,” Grand Junction Police Chief Troy Smith said Sunday of his conversations with Michael Gallagher.
The Fines’ neighbor, who ran to the home to help after hearing the shots, also was shot but was out of the hospital Saturday night.
Police executed search warrants at Martin-Urban’s home and the Fines’ home but would not say what they found in the homes or in the suspect’s vehicle.
No suicide note has been found.
Michael Gallagher served as president for academic affairs at Idaho State University from 1989 to 1996, and as interim president in 2005. Floyce Gallagher, 60, is a former Idaho middle school teacher who retired this year.
Kent Tingey, a longtime friend and ISU colleague of Michael Gallagher, said the couple planned to spend more time traveling now that they were retired.
“She was a wonderful woman. She had a great sense of humor,” Tingey told the Idaho State Journal.
