Law enforcement is responding to a shooting that occurred Tuesday at Whitney Moore Young Jr. Hall on the campus of Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Hannah Brown/The State Journal/AP
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Hannah Brown/The State Journal/AP
FRANKFURT, Ky. — One student was killed and another seriously injured Tuesday in a shooting at a Kentucky State University residence hall, and a suspect who is not a student at the school was arrested, officials said.
The shooting occurred around 3 p.m. and was an “isolated incident,” Frankfort Deputy Police Chief Scott Tracy said at a news conference Tuesday evening. Tracy said police responded quickly to the shooting.
“There are currently no security concerns on campus,” he said. Authorities have not publicly discussed the motive.
Frankfort police said Jacob Lee Bard was booked on charges of murder and first-degree assault in connection with the shooting. Police said Bard was from Evansville, Indiana, about 150 miles west of Frankfort.
Bard was not listed in online county court records and jail records did not name an attorney for him. The public defender’s office and the district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for information about who can comment on his behalf or whether he has an attorney.
Video from WLKY-TV in Louisville showed several police vehicles outside a cluster of dormitories and a crime scene recorded in a school yard in Frankfort, the state capital.
A student who was shot in the residence hall, Whitney M. Young Jr. Hall, is in critical but stable condition, according to the university. The school is not immediately releasing students’ names.
“We are in close contact with families and providing all available support,” the school said in a statement, adding that counseling and support services were available.
Gov. Andy Beshear said in a video message posted to X that the shooting “appears to be an isolated incident” and that “there is no ongoing threat.”
“Violence has no place in our Commonwealth or in our country. Let us pray for the families affected and for our KSU students. Let us also pray for a world where these things do not happen,” he said.
Classes, final exams and on-campus activities at the university have been canceled for the remainder of the week, according to the school. The fall term was scheduled to end Friday, according to the school’s website.
“Students can return home if they wish,” the school said in a statement. “Additional guidance will be communicated as soon as possible.”
University President Koffi C. Akakpo called it a “senseless tragedy.”
“We are mourning the loss of one of our students,” he said during the press conference Tuesday evening. “As a parent, I can’t imagine receiving the appeal I made to parents today.”
This is the second shooting in four months in the same area of the university.
On Aug. 17, someone fired several shots from a vehicle near the same residence hall, hitting two people who the university said were not students. Frankfurt police said one victim was treated for minor injuries and a second was seriously injured. The dormitory and at least one vehicle were damaged by gunfire.
Kentucky State is a historically black public university with approximately 2,200 students. Legislators authorized the school’s establishment in 1886.
The school is approximately 2 miles east of the Capitol building.
