Louisa man arrested after school incident

By TONY FYFFE

BSN Editor

LOUISA — Lawrence County High and Louisa Middle schools were on lockdown briefly Monday when a man was seen near the campuses with what appeared to be a firearm.

School resource officers from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and the Louisa Police Department were notified of a “male subject walking near the wooded area with what appeared to a firearm,” according to a press release from the police department.

The man, Bailey Maynard, 21, of Louisa, had “brought a BB gun upon school grounds and went walking towards the wooded area in a manner that raised suspicion and alarm,” the release said.

The arrest report by the sheriff’s office school resource officer, Julius Musick, said that Louisa Middle School resource officer Greg Powers received a call from Lawrence County High School Vice Principal Travis Feltner, who said that “a teacher called him and said a male was in the wooded area behind the football field carrying a rifle.”

“While responding to the scene I noticed a male running behind the tennis courts that are directly west of the wooded area,” Musick said in the report. “The male was running with headphones in and was unarmed. I ordered the male to come towards me and show me his hands and he complied. I searched the male and asked him what he was doing in the area, he said he was running behind the tennis court because the track was busy.”

Maynard told Musick his name and address, and said he did not have a firearm when asked by the officer. Musick then detained Maynard in his cruisier.

Maynard fit the description given by the original witness, the report said.

Powers and Sgt. Steven Wilburn of the city police department located a loaded BB gun in the woods where Maynard was originally seen, the report said.

“When Maynard saw the officers outside the vehicle with the BB Gun he said that he carries it because he has PTSD from being attacked by a man,” the report said.

Maynard was taken to the sheriff’s office, where he told Musick and Sheriff Chuck Jackson that he took the BB gun into the woods to practice target shooting, saying “he did not think the Woods was school property, even though he had graduated from there,” the report said.

“Maynard said he did not intend to cause harm to anyone or to scare anyone,” the report said. “Maynard also said he suffers from a variety of mental health issues that he takes medication to treat. Maynard said that six days prior to this event he was released from a mental health facility.”

Maynard was charged with second-degree terroristic threatening, menacing and second-degree disorderly conduct. He was lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville.

Both LCHS and LMS entered lockdown/modified lockdown status due to the incident, according to the school district’s Facebook page.

Superintendent Dr. Robbie Fletcher said he was thankful for the school resource officer (SRO) program and local law enforcement officers.

“Having an SRO on campus allowed for this situation to be handled quickly,” Fletcher said in an email. “The local authorities were very quick to respond, also.”