Armed suspect taken into custody at Arkansas State University

Police in Arkansas have released an audio tape in which a man tells an emergency dispatcher that he is on the Arkansas State University campus with gasoline, propane and a shotgun with only one shell.

Bartelt told Jonesboro Police he was upset over how he was treated after being injured during a training. Bartelt’s next hearing was set for January 29.

During the hearing, with Bartelt appearing via video link from the county jail, the judge denied a request for the suspect to be represented by a public defender. He was charged on Friday in court with aggravated assault, terroristic threatening and unlawful possession of explosive material. Bartelt was arrested Thursday after driving onto the Arkansas State campus with a shotgun.

A former student at ASU’s Newport campus, Bartelt was taken into custody about an hour after he caused a lockdown.

Now that the dust has settled, it appears as though Bartelt was not planning to harm anyone but himself. “He 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”. However, Fox News reports that the Jonesboro Police indicated that they received a call on Wednesday regarding a Facebook post by the suspect in which he wrote that he was not only homicidal, but suicidal, while referring to a particular incident with the Social Security Administration.

Bartelt told cops he was on painkillers and several psychiatric drugs, based on the report.

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.

Brad Kenneth Bartelt was being held Friday on a preliminary charge of aggravated assault for the Thursday incident, in which students and staff were ordered to evacuate the student union.

A police detective testified on Friday that Bartelt repeatedly threatened to shoot the propane canister, and had doused his truck with gasoline before eventually surrendering. No shots were fired and no one was hurt.

Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott says Bartelt never pointed his gun at officers. He also said “he was seeing demons in the woods around his house and had tried to photograph them, but was not able to get their pictures”, according to the police narrative released Friday. “Together we rise; together we thrive”.