A man suspected of killing two people in Idaho is now the prime suspect in the March 20 shooting of a UA student, Ada County Sheriff’s Department officials announced Friday during a press conference in Boise, Idaho.

Jake Thompson, a UA engineering management senior, was shot three times outside his home near East Grant Road and North First Avenue sometime that night.

The suspected is believed to be John Delling, 21, who went to Timberline High School in Boise with Thompson.

Delling has also been linked to two other murders in Idaho.

Thompson was in his house near the UA when a man tapped on Thompson’s window and told Thompson to move his truck. While Thompson was moving his truck, the man reportedly rode past on a bicycle and fired five shots at the driver’s side door, hitting Thompson three times.

Thompson was struck in the head, shoulder and arm, said Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney. He was taken to University Medical Center.

George Humphrey, a UMC spokesman, confirmed Friday that a man named Jake Thompson was released from the hospital on March 24.

Delling was arrested April 3 by police in Sparks, Nev., on a first-degree murder warrant issued by Moscow, Idaho, police in the death of University of Idaho senior David Boss, also a former high school classmate of Delling’s.

Boss, a 21-year-old UI history senior, was killed March 31 at his apartment after being shot twice in the head allegedly by Delling.

Authorities have also linked Delling to the death of Bradley Morse, 25, whose body was found Tuesday by an Idaho Parks and Recreation employee in a pond on Parks and Recreation Property. Morse worked as a janitor for Idaho Parks and Recreation and was also a computer science senior at Boise State University.

Delling drove 6,500 miles across much of the West, including California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona and Nevada, during a four-week period prior to the killings in Idaho, Raney said.

Family and friends of Delling said he was acting increasingly erratic before the time of the slayings.

Thompson identified Delling as his assailant but doesn’t know why he was targeted, Raney said.

Thompson could not be reached for comment.

Idaho authorities expect to prosecute Delling for the slayings before he would go to Arizona to face possible charges there.

– The Associated Press
contributed to this report