Jacob Lee Bard, 48, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault in the first degree after Tuesday’s shooting death of one Kentucky State University student and wounding of another. Photo Courtesy of the Franklin County (Ky.) Regional Jail
The father of two Kentucky State University students is charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing one student and wounding another on Tuesday.
Jacob Lee Bard, 48, of Evansville, Ind., pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of murder and assault in the first degree and remains jailed on a $1 million bond after his arraignment hearing in the Kentucky Court of Justice in Franklin County on Thursday morning.
An arrest citation says Bard shot two students with a handgun after a “physical confrontation” at 3:10 p.m. EST on Tuesday afternoon near a residential hall on the south side of the university’s campus.
Student De’Jon Fox, 19, of Indianapolis, died after being shot, and the second shooting victim remains hospitalized in critical condition. Police have not released the hospitalized student’s name.
Officials with the Frankfort Police Department called the shooting “isolated” but did not cite a motive or say what led to the shooting, aside from the confrontation.
Bard’s defense attorney, Mark Hall said there is “much more to the story than what has been brought before, even in the citation that was issued by the authorities.”
Hall described Bard as a “family man” with three children, including the two KSU students, and asked the court for a bond of less than $50,000 to secure his release, but the presiding judge ordered a $1 million cash bond.
A preliminary hearing in the matter is scheduled on Tuesday.
Kentucky State University is a historically black land-grant university that opened in 1886 and has about 2,200 enrolled students.
Frankfort is Kentucky’s capital and is located about 25 miles northwest of Lexington.
