Grand Jury Declines to Indict Father in Campus Shooting

A Kentucky grand jury has decided not to move forward with charges against the man accused in a deadly shooting at Kentucky State University earlier this month. Jacob Bard, 48, of Evansville, Indiana, had been charged with murder and assault after a Dec. 9 campus shooting that left one student dead and another critically injured. He pleaded not guilty at a Dec. 11 arraignment and was held on a $1 million cash bond, which his family posted Monday, just hours before the grand jury met, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports.

Jurors returned what's known as a "no true bill," meaning they did not find probable cause to indict. Bard's attorney, Jonathan Danks, said jurors concluded Bard acted in self-defense, effectively ending the criminal case. Danks said the defense had long argued that Bard was legally justified in his actions and called the outcome a major relief for Bard's family. According to an arrest citation, Bard was involved in a physical confrontation on campus when he pulled a handgun and shot two people.

Bard's attorneys say the family was on campus to move out their younger son after withdrawing their two sons, both baseball players, from the school over "multiple armed, violent" incidents in the previous weeks, the AP reports. The lawyers say a group of 20 to 30 people in masks and hoods attacked the family when they reached the dorm entrance. They say the attack included somebody beating the son's head against the pavement. "Jacob's actions were absolutely justified under the law, and were the only measure that prevented his son's death or serious injury," attorneys wrote in a court filing. They said the son had received multiple threats after reporting an October burglary in his dorm room to police.

Nineteen-year-old student De'Jon Darrell Fox Jr., of Indianapolis, died after being taken to a hospital, and a second student was critically injured. In a statement after the grand jury decision, KSU administrators said the outcome does not lessen the community's grief and stressed that the university is cooperating with law enforcement, reviewing internal procedures, and increasing security. "We will continue working closely with our partners, strengthening our safeguards, and providing the care, compassion, and support our Thorobred family needs as we move forward together," KSU President Koffi Akakpo said.