JONESBORO -- A man who drove onto the Arkansas State University-Jonesboro campus with a shotgun Thursday told investigators that he went to there to "shoot other people, but he realized murder would be wrong," authorities said Friday.
Brad Kenneth Bartelt, 47, of Jonesboro now faces charges of first-degree terroristic threatening, aggravated assault, criminal in possession of an explosive device and carrying a firearm in a publicly owned facility. He will be formally charged Jan. 29 in Craighead County Circuit Court.
Police arrested Bartelt after he surrendered during an hourlong standoff in front of ASU-Jonesboro's Carl R. Reng Student Center in the middle of campus Thursday afternoon.
Bartelt did not fire his weapon. He told authorities that he intended to harm only himself, police said.
He was held Friday in the Craighead County jail in Jonesboro after Craighead County District Judge Keith Blackman set Bartelt's bail at $50,000 and ordered a mental evaluation.
Authorities had requested that Bartelt's bail be set at $100,000.
The judge also denied Bartelt's request for a public defender, saying Bartelt had land assets and could afford a private attorney.
Bartelt drove onto the lawn in front of the ASU student union center about 1:30 p.m. Thursday and called the Jonesboro Police Department's 911 center, telling dispatchers he was on the campus and had a gun.
He told students to leave, saying it was "a personal issue" and didn't want to hurt any "innocent lives," a witness said Thursday.
ASU officials locked down the university and closed all roads leading into the campus.
Jonesboro police detective Mike Branscum wrote in an arrest affidavit filed in District Court that Bartelt pointed his shotgun at a 100-pound propane tank several times and threatened to blow up the tank. Bartelt also poured gasoline on his truck, police said.
Branscum said Bartelt got in and out of his truck several times during the standoff and was "acting irrational."
Bartelt told officers that he was upset after being injured in 2012 while enrolled in a commercial truck driving course at ASU-Newport. Newport police reports said Bartelt was moving a barrel lodged underneath a tractor-trailer when the driver moved the truck forward and pinned Bartelt, critically injuring him.
He told police Thursday that he felt he was not treated correctly and was not paid for his resulting expenses.
On his Facebook page, Bartelt described himself as a graphic design student at ASU-Jonesboro, but ASU System spokesman Jeff Hankins said Friday that there was no evidence that he had ever enrolled at the school.
ASU System President Chuck Welch said Friday that the university's alert system worked, and buildings were locked down quickly.
"Sometimes it's not about the shots that are fired. It's about the shots not fired. We were able to end the situation without a single shot fired," Welch said, adding that area law enforcement officials were was "well trained" and "well prepared."
Branscum wrote in the affidavit that Bartelt "stated that he was going to come to the university and shoot other people, but he realized that murder would be wrong, so he was going to kill himself."
Bartelt reiterated that sentiment during his probable-cause hearing Friday afternoon. Bartelt appeared on a video screen from the Craighead County jail wearing a green pleated vest used for prisoners considered a suicide risk. He wore handcuffs.
"I never intended to hurt anybody but myself," Bartelt told Blackman.
When Blackman asked Bartelt if he understood the charges he faced, Bartelt said he did not.
Bartelt also said he didn't read his rights on a statement he signed. Blackman read them to him.
At one point, Bartelt raised his cuffed hands and coughed into his fist. "Sorry," he mumbled to the judge.
In an affidavit, Branscum wrote that Bartelt told him that he took hydrocodone and Xanax and that he was "seeing demons in the woods around his house and had tried to photograph them, but was not able to get their pictures."
Police went to Bartelt's Hall Street home north of the ASU campus Wednesday after Bartelt posted an angry message on Facebook mentioning Administrative Law Judge John Goree of the federal Office of Disability Adjudication and Review in Little Rock.
Bartelt said he did not receive proper help after the August 2012 accident left him disabled.
"Told multiple professionals and people in State of Arkansas I AM SUICIDAL and now HOMICIDAL," he wrote in his Facebook post. "I already died twice as a result of accident, if necessary let my last DEATH be for a purpose."
Jonesboro police spokesman Paul Holmes said officers conducted a welfare check on Bartelt but did not arrest him.
On Thursday, after Bartelt surrendered, police returned to his home after he told officers that he had an AR-15 rifle there.
Branscum said he spoke with Connie Francis Hampton, 41, who was living with Bartelt and showed him the fully loaded weapon on the floor near a bed. Hampton was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. She was held in the Craighead County jail in lieu of a $2,500 bond.
Branscum said he also found four hunting knives, a large box of ammunition for shotguns and several .223-caliber rounds for the AR-15 at the home.
Second Judicial Circuit Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said Friday that he had not yet seen the investigation documents and would not speculate on any additional charges until he had seen them.
"It was an unfortunate situation," Ellington said. "We are lucky the police responded quickly and resolved the issue safely."
Information for this article was contributed by Aziza Musa of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 12/12/2015