Parents of Kentucky State shooting victim arrested on intimidation charges
The parents of a Kentucky State University student shot and killed on campus this month were arrested on intimidation charges Thursday in Indiana.
A warrant for their arrest was issued Tuesday — the same day a grand jury declined to indict the man who shot and killed their son on the Frankfort campus.
Chardnae Lashaun Cleveland, 37, and De’Jon Darrell Fox, 38, were arrested Dec. 25 and charged with intimidation in Evansville, Indiana.
Their son, De’Jon Fox Jr., 19, was killed in the Dec. 9 shooting that also injured another Kentucky State student. That student was stable as of mid-December.
Jacob Bard, 48, was arrested and charged with murder and first-degree assault after the shooting.
He told investigators he and his wife were on campus to remove their two sons from the school because of safety concerns. They got a campus police escort to a dorm to remove their children, but Bard’s lawyers say they were “violently and viciously” attacked when they arrived.
Campus security footage and a video on social media showed several people running frantically, including one person who was holding a baseball bat, before police say Bard opened fire just after 3 p.m. at Whitney M. Young Hall, a dorm on the south side of campus.
Bard’s lawyers claimed the shooting was self-defense and followed months of burglaries and attacks on campus against their client’s sons. The lawyers also said Bard’s family had gone into hiding after the shooting, because Cleveland called for Bard’s son to be killed in retaliation.
On Tuesday, a Franklin County grand jury declined to indict Bard.
Following Fox Jr.’s death, police ordered extra patrol for his parents “due to the circumstances and fear of retaliation,” according to TV station FOX 56. Social media posts by Cleveland and Fox referenced gang activity and implied “intent for violent reaction toward the family of Jacob Bard.”
Fox and Cleveland were held on a $1,500 cash bond and have since been released, according to the Vanderburgh County Detention Center.
Fox Jr. was a student at Victory College Prep High School in Indianapolis, where he played basketball for at least one year, according to MaxPreps. He was a junior on the 2022-23 team, meaning he was a sophomore at KSU this year.
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