Lawman: ASU alert of shooter necessary; jury hears tape of man’s 911 call

Brad Bartelt
Brad Bartelt

JONESBORO -- Arkansas State University Police Capt. Jarrod Long called for an active-shooter alert after Brad Kenneth Bartelt drove onto the Jonesboro campus with a shotgun and propane tank Dec. 10, even though Bartelt never fired a shot.

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Long testified Tuesday during the second day of Bartelt's trial in Craighead County Circuit Court that he felt that Bartelt's actions necessitated the alert.

Bartelt, 48, is charged with five counts of aggravated assault and one count each of making a terroristic threat and terroristic threatening. His defense is that he never posed a threat to anyone but himself.

He was arrested Dec. 10 after he held police at bay for an hour and a half in front of the Carl R. Reng Center on campus.

"We didn't know what his intentions were at the time," Long told Craighead County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Grant DeProw. "I thought it was best to warn [students] early."

Bartelt's defense attorney, Chet Dunlap of Trumann, said in his opening statement Monday that ASU officials overreacted when they issued the alert and that Bartelt meant only to harm himself not anyone else. He said the alert wasn't warranted and caused undue panic among students and university officials.

Police said Bartelt drove his green Chevrolet pickup onto a grassy area on the east side of the Reng student union center about 1 p.m. Dec. 10 and, while holding a 12-gauge shotgun, told students to leave the area.

Police said he displayed a flag on his truck and poured gasoline in the truck's bed where he had a propane tank. Authorities feared that Bartelt could ignite the gasoline and cause an explosion.

Bartelt was angry at ASU because he was injured in 2012 while enrolled in a commercial truck driving course at ASU-Newport, DeProw said in the state's opening statements Monday. Bartelt had become pinned under a tractor-trailer while removing a barrel that another student driver had struck while training. The student drove forward, dragging Bartelt more than 20 feet before stopping. Bartelt was flown by medical helicopter to a Memphis hospital where he was listed in critical condition. He spent 28 days recuperating there.

DeProw outlined the ASU Police Department's active-shooter alert policy Tuesday, which calls for the issuance of email and text messages to students, and faculty and staff members in several instances, including "terroristic incidents" and cases of "armed intruders."

Bartelt called Jonesboro's 911 center when he drove onto the campus and said he meant only to harm himself, but Long said calling for the campus alert was justified.

"[Bartelt] had a weapon," Long said. "He was an armed intruder."

Dunlap said Bartelt posed no real threat because he sat isolated in his truck dozens of yards from anyone.

"He did not use deadly force," Dunlap said. "When the active-shooter alert went out, that's when students began running. Why not just put out an alert that there was an armed man on campus, or a detained man?"

On redirect examination, DeProw asked Long about his issuance of the alert.

"Would it have been better to wait for Mr. Bartelt to shoot someone before issuing the alert?" the deputy prosecutor asked.

"No, it wouldn't," Long responded.

Earlier Tuesday, prosecutors played a recording of Bartelt's phone call to the Jonesboro 911 center informing police that he was on the campus with a shotgun.

"You might want to get someone up here," Bartelt told dispatcher Linda Gann, who was the state's first witness Tuesday.

He told Gann that he had a "shotgun, a propane tank and one bullet."

"I thought it was a joke," Gann said. "I didn't believe this could be happening in Jonesboro, in our little town.

"I was praying to God that the gentleman wouldn't harm himself or other people."

Alyssa Burleson, a junior theater major, testified that she was studying in the student union center when Bartelt "whipped a doughnut" in the grass outside.

She said she saw Bartelt step out of his truck, get on his cellphone and begin pacing. "He looked a little upset," Burleson said.

She said police then evacuated students from the center.

"People were yelling and screaming, 'He's got a gun' and 'active shooter,'" Burleson said. "There was a lot of commotion. It was a mass exodus."

The jury of six men and six women watched video Tuesday taken from ASU police Lt. Bobby Duff's body camera. Duff, along with three other ASU police officers and about 30 other law enforcement officers, was at the student union attending a training seminar on active shooters on a campus.

He heard a dispatcher on his police radio report that Bartelt had driven on campus.

"I headed that way," Duff said.

When he heard that Bartelt had a shotgun, he said he "stepped up" his response. "We tried to stop any loss of life if that was what his intentions were," Duff said.

At one point, Bartelt exited his truck holding the shotgun.

"I felt he was fixing to use the shotgun on me and my supervisor," Duff said referring to Long, who was also on the scene. "For a ... second, I thought we were going to be in a gunfight."

Instead, Bartelt got back into his truck. An hour and 20 minutes later, police coaxed Bartelt out and onto the ground where they arrested him.

Testimony is to resume this morning in the Craighead County Courthouse.

Bartelt said he intends to testify today or Thursday.

A Section on 08/24/2016

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