LEXINGTON, Ky. — University of Kentucky police arrested without incident an allegedly armed man Thursday at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital's Emergency Department.
University police had gotten word from police in Versailles that a potentially armed and dangerous man was coming to the hospital to visit a relative, University of Kentucky Police Chief Joe Monroe said. The man, identified as Bryan Carroll, was able to get into the hospital and visit the relative, but police found him using the hospital's surveillance system. Carroll was arrested without incident as he started to walk out of the hospital, Monroe said.
Carroll, 44, was found to have weapons and body armor on him, and suspected explosive devices were found in his car, Monroe said.
Carroll is facing multiple state charges, and federal charges are pending, Monroe said without specifying.
It was not publicly confirmed that the objects in his car were explosive devices, and no information about Carroll's intentions or reasons for being armed had been released as of Thursday afternoon.
No one was injured, but police from multiple agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were at the scene for hours investigating. The stretch of South Limestone in front of the hospital's emergency department was also shut down for hours.
"No one was in danger at any time," Monroe said. "This was a very quick response and take down."
Monroe said he couldn't comment on whether or not federal authorities searched Carroll's home in Versailles, but police blocked off a street in Versailles in the area of a home listed in public records as belonging to a person of the same name.
The FBI had no prior knowledge of Carroll, according to spokesman Tim Beam.
Normal operations continued inside the emergency department during the incident, Monroe said, but incoming ambulances were diverted to other hospitals.
At 3 p.m. local time, University of Kentucky sent out a notification that normal operations were resuming. UK Chandler Hospital is the only Level 1 trauma center serving Central and Eastern Kentucky, according to the university.
The events began not long before the University of Kentucky sent out an alert at 11 a.m. warning people to avoid the area around the hospital's emergency department. The alert was then updated to say the rest of the campus could resume usual activities, but no details about what had happened were given publicly until Monroe's briefing at 2:30 p.m.
Carroll's arrest follows recent mass shootings in Colorado and Atlanta that have been the subject of national media attention, but Monroe said recent events didn't necessarily have officers on higher alert.
"I think as part of our training every day, we're always preparing for some type of disaster to happen," he said.
Monroe didn't speculate on what could have happened if police hadn't apprehended Carroll.
"I think we took an individual that could be deemed as armed and dangerous into custody very quickly, efficiently, without doing harm to anyone, including himself."
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(Herald-Leader staff writer Beth Musgrave contributed to this report.)
