Staff report
Multiple media sources have reported that a grand jury this week declined to indict the father of two Kentucky State University students who was charged with murder for an on-campus shooting that killed one student and injured another.
Subsequently the parents of the deceased student, Chardnae Cleveland and De’Jon Darrell Fox Sr., have been arrested in Indiana for making online threats against the man who shot their son. They have been charged with felony intimidation.
Jacob Bard of Evansville was arrested December 9 after he shot and killed student De’Jon Fox, 19, of Indianapolis. His defense attorney Scott Danks said grand jurors decided not to indict Bard because he was justified in shooting two people who were beating his son.
Bard’s attorneys said 20 to 30 mostly masked people had gathered to attack his son and his family as they were moving his son out of the dorm. They were withdrawing both their sons from the school because of “multiple armed, violent” incidents to them and others in the days leading up to the December incident.
After the grand jury decision, Kentucky State officials said they “will cooperate with law enforcement and investigators as appropriate” and are focused on student safety and well-being.
In a message to the campus community, Kentucky State said the grand jury decision “does not lessen the pain our community continues to feel, nor does it change our priorities. . .Our commitment remains centered on supporting our students and ensuring Kentucky State University is a safe place to learn, live, and work.”
Bard’s lawyers said that three days before the shooting, the son and his three friends were assaulted by 15-20 people. They claim the son was attacked with baseball bats and weapons in his dorm room the day before the shooting. The attacks apparently started when the son reported his dorm room burglarized on Oct. 11 by a group that pulled a fire alarm and used fire extinguishers to disable security cameras, and he reported the incident to a resident assistant.
The lawyers sais that “law enforcement will take all appropriate actions to protect the Bard family.”