Debisa Ephraim, 21
Posted on 09/25/2025 9:06:54 AM PDT by real saxophonist
Man arrested after allegedly taking gun to UNC campus weeks after jail release
By: Natalie Chuck , Joe Vaccarelli
Sep 24, 2025
GREELEY, Colo. — A man who was recently released from jail after he was found incompetent to stand trial — sparking a war of words between Colorado’s governor and Weld County’s district attorney — was allegedly seen Tuesday on the University of Northern Colorado’s campus with a firearm.
UNC campus police sent out a safety alert early Wednesday morning stating that Debisa Ephraim, 21, was seen at the Arlington Apartments on campus and had an AR-15-style rifle, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Denver7 Investigates.
Ephraim was arrested Wednesday afternoon by UNC police with the assistance of the Greeley Police Department and the Weld County Sheriff's Office for unlawful possession of a weapon on school grounds and trespassing.
According to the arrest warrant, an anonymous report filed with UNC PD included a video that showed Ephraim pointing a gun at the camera. The alert sent to students noted that police believed Ephraim to be dangerous and had had multiple run-ins with campus police over the past few years, although he is not affiliated with the university.
Ephraim was banned from campus due to previous incidents dating back to 2021.
Weld County sheriff says he was forced to release 'dangerous' man due to state's competency laws CO sheriff says he was forced to release 'dangerous' man due to competency laws
Earlier this month, Ephraim was released from the Weld County Jail after multiple charges, including attempted murder, were dropped after he was found incompetent to stand trial and not restorable. Those charges were related to fights that occurred in April.
“I knew it was a matter of time before he tried to do something violent again,” said Griselda, the sister of one of the victims in Ephraim's April cases. She asked that Denver7 Investigates not publish her last name out of concern for her safety. “What I am shocked about is the magnitude of what could have happened with this incident.
On campus, Denver7 Investigates spoke with students who were alarmed by the alert they had received that morning about a potentially armed and dangerous man on campus.
"In today's day and age, it's not surprising that someone came on campus with a weapon. It's just surprising that it happened here in such a small community,” said sophomore Jayna Palmquist, who lives in the apartments where Ephraim was allegedly spotted.
Last year, there was a change in Colorado competency law that now mandates judges to dismiss cases against suspects found incompetent and not restorable to stand trial. Before that change, the law stated that a judge “may” dismiss the case.
Denver7 Investigates has spent a year digging into the complexity of competency law in Colorado and highlighted several cases.
“It’s the reality of what happens when bad policy is turned into bad legislation,” Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams told Denver7 Investigates earlier this month after Ephraim was released from the Weld County Jail.
Following the news of Ephraim's arrest, Sheriff Reams issued a statement, saying, "I knew this would happen. I am glad no one was hurt."
Follow up to this story.
I’m a UNC alumnus, and I always have to make that distinction. Northern Colorado, not North Carolina.
Is it were Chapel Hill, they’d have given him BA degree.
Denver 7 is slipping. “AR-15-style rifle” means ASSAULT RIFLE. What’s the matter with those writers? I don’t see the word “assault” anywhere in the article.
“Earlier this month, Ephraim was released from the Weld County Jail after multiple charges, including attempted murder, were dropped after he was found incompetent to stand trial and not restorable. Those charges were related to fights that occurred in April.”
More leftist insanity. Attempted murder but released due to incompetence. He sure seems competent enough to get a gun.
“… were dropped after he was found incompetent to stand trial and not restorable. ”
I don’t understand. Why wasn’t he involuntarily committed then?
no more gun free zone, people should be allow to open carry on campus.
And no, that's not a bad thing to say. Speaking truth from experience.
It would appear to me that Mr. Ephraim meets the conditions necessary for ICE to deport him.
WATCH OUT! Is Colorado trying to pass more gun legislation by releasing a mental incompetent to commit crimes, then pull out a prepared gun bill to ban more guns?
California did this in 1989 when they released Pat Purdy from a mental institution (7th time!) allowed him to buy a rifle and handgun passing the waiting period, He then shot up the Stockton school yard killing several students and himself.
A prepared gun bill was quickly pulled out and passed before opposition could be mounted against it!
Colorado has been so Californicated I would put nothing past them to do this.
I remember that, and you are correct.
“mandates judges to dismiss cases against suspects found incompetent and not restorable to stand trial”
This BS has gotten out of hand. You did the crime it doesn’t matter your state of mind. Let a jury decide.
Leftists like this judge seem to love mass school shootings, one suspects, because it adds more fuel to the gun confiscation fire.
Just before the last voluntary act everything appeared to be going well.
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