Detective: Man arrested with bombs in Lexington threatened earlier to kill officers
A Versailles man had previously threatened to hurt or kill officers when he was arrested with several guns and explosives last week at the University of Kentucky hospital, according to a detective.
Bryan Carroll, 44, was arrested on March 25 — allegedly with eight guns and four active explosive devices — outside UK Chandler Hospital. He previously “made statements that he would hurt or kill any law enforcement officer who attempted to take him into custody,” Detective John Harder told the Fayette District Court during a preliminary hearing Thursday.
Harder, who works for the UK Police Department, was one of the arresting officers. He said he and another detective were warned by Rob Young, the assistant police chief in Versailles. Young called and told UK police about Carroll’s presence at the hospital, Harder said.
Versailles police had been “pinging” Carroll’s cellphone to locate and arrest him, Harder said.
“I guess they’re pretty familiar with Mr. Carroll in Woodford County, but up to this point, he had avoided apprehension,” Harder testified.
After he was detained, Carroll told UK police that they “weren’t the ones he had a problem with,” Harder said.
“I’m not sure if he was referring to Versailles PD or if it was some type of organization he was involved in,” Harder said. Carroll also was interviewed by the FBI while he was in campus police custody, Harder said.
Carroll made other comments to UK police, who didn’t try to read him his Miranda rights or question him, according to Harder.
“He made statements that he was aware of like a bigger scheme, or he could give us information on murders and drug rings,” Harder said. “I asked him if he would be able to speak to me, but he said he wanted to speak to someone higher. He made a few statements like that.”
Harder told the court that Carroll had more weapons than previously thought. There were eight guns – six handguns, plus an AK-47 style weapon and an AR-15, Harder said. UK police plan to bring additional charges against Carroll for the additional weapons.
Man charged over guns, bombs was visiting mom
Carroll had gone to the hospital to visit his mother, who’d allegedly had a cardiac incident or something similar, Harder said. Carroll’s father was sitting in Carroll’s Honda CR-V outside the hospital when Carroll was detained, Harder said. Neighbors of the Carroll family said Bryan Carroll lived with his parents.
Because Carroll was described to UK police as an “extremely dangerous wanted and convicted felon” who had access to guns and may be involved with explosives, officers chose not to confront Carroll inside the hospital, Harder said. They instead staged outside the ambulance bay.
“We decided that approaching Carroll ... inside the emergency department was unwise based on all of the information passed on to us by Versailles PD,” Harder said. “We were worried that we could potentially involve staff, or civilians or hospital personnel.”
Officials at UK’s emergency operations center identified Carroll on hospital surveillance cameras and tracked him inside the hospital, Harder said. Carroll didn’t hurt or threaten anyone inside the hospital, Harder said. Officers waited for Carroll to exit the hospital before driving up behind his parked vehicle and apprehending him.
Carroll tried to run around his vehicle when he realized what was happening, Harder said. Harder grabbed Carroll by his shirt, but Carroll got out of his shirt and Harder lost control of him, he said. Carroll’s body armor and a pistol on his hip were visible at that point. Another detective grabbed Carroll by his waist and took him to the ground.
The arrest was shown on hospital surveillance video subsequently released by police. Carroll was eventually handcuffed, Harder said. Harder’s badge and gun were clearly visible when he confronted Carroll, he said.
“It was very clear to me that he knew I was a police officer at the time,” Harder said.
The other detective threw Carroll’s pistol underneath Carroll’s vehicle, Harder said. A police sergeant on scene grabbed it to get it “out of play.”
Carroll admitted to having another handgun in his “jock,” Harder said. That gun was a Smith and Wesson listed by federal officials in a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
Police found the AK-47 style weapon in the back seat of Carroll’s vehicle with “either a 50- or a 75-round drum magazine inserted in it,” Harder said. Officers also found the AR-15 with a 30-round magazine inserted in it.
In the vehicle, police also found “a tactical vest with hard plates” and “multiple tactical pouches with other ammunition and other items in it, as well as a tactical belt with similar items,” Harder said.
All the guns and ammunition were put in a detective’s vehicle, Harder said. Then, an officer picked up what “appeared” to be a homemade explosive, Harder said.
It was “some type of home-manufactured item” which had paper and electrical tape on it, Harder said. The officer put the suspected explosive back down, and UK police called the Lexington Police Department’s bomb unit.
Hospital staff were directed by police to move some people out of the emergency department as a result of the bomb findings. The hospital and emergency department still continued functioning throughout the incident, UK officials said.
Lexington police found three live explosives inside Carroll’s vehicle along with another explosive device that wasn’t believed to be live, Harder said. Police then found a fourth live explosive inside one of Carroll’s tactical pouches.
“It appeared to be some type of modified mortar shell firework intended to be lit with a fuse and thrown by hand,” Harder said of the fourth live explosive.
Carroll currently faces four charges of using a weapon of mass destruction, according to court records.
“If the ATF comes back saying that that fifth one is actually a live device, then we’ll need to add an additional charge for that,” Harder said.
Carroll was facing 14 state charges related to last week’s arrest, but Harder said he would file three new gun charges. Prosecutors dropped a charge of possessing a weapon on school property without saying why.
Carroll’s charges Thursday included four counts of using a weapon of mass destruction, five counts of possessing a handgun as a convicted felon, one count of resisting arrest, one count of fleeing police, one count of possessing a controlled substance and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia, according to court records.
Judge denies lower bond in Lexington hospital case
Fayette District Judge John Tackett found probable cause on Carroll’s 13 charges and sent the case to a grand jury. The grand jury will determine if the case moves to circuit court for trial preparations.
Carroll’s attorney, J. Parker Mincy, argued in court that Carroll shouldn’t be charged with fleeing or evading police because Carroll would’ve had to “create a substantial risk of or cause physical injury” to others while trying to evade officers.
Tackett disagreed with Mincy’s argument and said the guns Carroll was carrying were enough to pose a risk of physical injury.
Mincy also argued that his client’s $150,000 bond was unfairly high because the charges Carroll faces are Class C felonies and asked Tackett to make it more “reasonable.”
“We don’t want to downplay the charge(s), but the legislature made a decision to make this a Class C felony,” Mincy argued. “We see people routinely on Class B and A felonies that are classified as more severe offenses with lower bonds.”
Tackett declined.
“I do find Mr. Carroll to be a significant danger to the community” and a flight risk, Tackett said. Before he was apprehended in Lexington, an arrest warrant had been issued for Carroll for failure to appear in a past Woodford County drug case, according to court records.
Federal investigation into Caroll is still ongoing
A criminal complaint has been filed against Carroll in federal court. His attorney said Thursday that he didn’t have further details about the federal case.
The FBI and ATF obtained a search warrant for Carroll’s home in Versailles last week and spent days searching the home and conducting controlled explosions at the property.
The initial federal criminal complaint filed against Carroll accused him of being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun and was only based on evidence gathered at the scene of Carroll’s arrest, according to an affidavit. Sara Anderson, a spokesperson for the FBI, said Thursday the ATF and FBI were still investigating together.
“We do not have any additional updates at this time,” she said.
Clarification: Information on the hospital’s operations during the March 25 arrest were unclear in a previous version of this story.
This story was originally published April 1, 2021 at 12:16 PM.