By Mark Maynard
Kentucky Today
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders commended the teamwork of state and federal law enforcement agencies that led to the arrest of a man accused of making threats that closed schools in Shelby and Anderson counties on Friday.
KSP said Dylan Lee Jarrell, 20, of Lawrenceburg, who was arrested Thursday night, had a firearm, over 200 rounds of ammunition, a 100-round magazine, a bullet-proof vest and a “detailed plan of attack.”
Sanders said in a press conference on Friday he couldn’t comment on the ongoing investigation and would not “glamorize” the perpetrator by naming him “for the evil deed he’s done.” However, he did mention the good work of Trooper Josh Satterly and others saying, “we saved lives.”
Dylan Lee Jarrell (Shelby County Detention photo)
“This again illustrates when we work together, do due diligence with information, we can make a difference,” Sanders said. “There’s no doubt in my mind with this investigation we saved lives. This young man had it in his mind to go to schools and create havoc. He had the tools necessary, the intent necessary, and the only thing that stood between him and evil and doing evil was law enforcement.”
Satterly made the arrest and “did his job well,” Sanders said. “He’s out there right now, working on the case. He’s a humble, dedicated trooper.”
Jarrell lives near Anderson County High School in Lawrenceburg and schools were closed Friday in the Anderson County school system because of a “credible threat.” Authorities interviewed Jarrell late Thursday and “found evidence of a credible and imminent threat” to Anderson and neighboring Shelby county schools, according to a KSP release.
Shelby County High School, which is on fall break, suspended activities for the afternoon, while Anderson County Schools canceled classes, according to statements on each district’s website.
State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders at press conference
Jarrell was a former student through his freshman year at Shelby County schools, the district said.
Evidence “corroborating the information that a threat was valid and imminent” was found during a search of Jarrell’s home.
Kentucky authorities began investigating after receiving a complaint that the man had sent harassing Facebook messages to a New Jersey woman. An FBI agent asked Jarrell about a past school shooting threat in which Jarrell had been a suspect. He admitted to making the threats and agreed to a police examination of his phone.
The review found information pertaining to “threats of bodily harm against multiple persons at a school,” according to an arrest citation.
Law enforcement agencies were going to be on hand for football games Friday night at Shelby County and at Anderson County “as a precautionary measure,” according to a Facebook post.
Kentucky State Police’s investigation is ongoing in both cases.
Jarrell was charged with second-degree terroristic threatening and harassing communications, court records show. He is being lodged at Shelby County Detention Center, KSP said.
Jarrell is being held on a $50,000 bond and will be arraigned Monday in Anderson District Court, according to online court records.
