New details emerged in court Tuesday about last week’s fatal shooting at Kentucky State University.
A Franklin District Court judge reduced bond for Jacob Lee Bard from $1 million to $100,000 and sent the case to a grand jury.
Bard, of Evansville, Indiana, is charged with murder and assault in the Dec. 9 shooting that killed one student and injured another.
During a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Frankfort Police Detective Laura Marco testified that before the shooting, Bard and his wife were attempting to remove their two sons from a KSU dormitory because of concerns for their safety.
She told the court that the Bards had met with university officials to discuss the situation beforehand, and campus security escorted them to the dorm.
Marco said video footage of the shooting showed “multiple people attacking multiple people” before the gun went off.
De’Jon Fox, 19, of Indianapolis, died at the scene. Another student, whose name has not been released, was transported to the University of Kentucky hospital.
Marco said when she arrived at the Whitney M. Young Jr. Residence Hall, campus police had detained Bard with handcuffs in a police vehicle.
In what Marco described as “bad blood between two groups,” Bard’s son had been assaulted prior to the shooting, including an altercation in an elevator.
Mark Hall, Bard’s attorney, noted that the court had not been given an opportunity to review the security camera footage showing the incidents.
Hall said the bond set for Bard at last week’s arraignment was excessive and that Bard was not a flight risk.
“Keeping him detained does not protect the community,” Hall said.
While Judge Kathy Mangeot said the $1 million bond was not excessive, she reduced it to $100,000. She set two conditions for Bard’s release: no new charges and no contact with the alleged victims.
