A man with a shotgun, gasoline and propane in his truck drove onto the campus of Arkansas State University Dec. 10 and was eventually arrested without firing any shots.
The incident sparked a campus-wide lockdown and the evacuation of the student union as Jonesboro police, university police and a SWAT team responded as if it were an active shooter situation.
Brad Kenneth Bartelt, 47, had a 12-gauge shotgun along with containers of gasoline and a 100-pound propane tank in his pickup truck when he parked on the grassy plaza next to the student union on Thursday afternoon.
Campus Police Chief Randy Martin says when officers arrived at the scene Bartelt was yelling something inaudible with his feet hanging out of the pickup trucks window and the shotgun visible, according to accesswdun.com. Bartelt also reportedly got out of the truck and poured gasoline on the vehicle as police and negotiators spoke with him for about an hour.
Police say Bartelt never pointed the gun at anybody but himself before eventually throwing the weapon on the ground and surrendering.
The day before the incident Jonesboro police had gone to Bartelt’s home because he had posted on Facebook that he was “suicidal and now homicidal.” Bartelt will undergo mental health screening before charges are filed in coming days.
Initially after police received reports of a man with a gun on campus, school officials sent an alert to students mentioning a “report of an active shooter” and urging everyone to leave the student union. After the lockdown was lifted classes were cancelled for the rest of the day.
Chief Martin announced that he would increase the number of patrol officers on campus for the remainder of the week. The Arkansas State University Police Department is accredited through C.A.L.E.A. and the patrol division is made up of state-certified police officers. The department consists of 22 full time police officers, four full time communications officers and an administrative assistant.
