A heavily armed Kentucky man was arrested after authorities uncovered evidence of a "credible and imminent" threat that prompted a rural school district to cancel classes Friday, Kentucky State Police said.
Dylan Jarrell, 20, was arrested Thursday evening and authorities found a gun, more than 200 rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest, a 100-round high capacity magazine and a detailed plan of attack in his possession, state police said.
Jarrell lives near Anderson County High School in Lawrenceburg and schools were closed Friday in the Anderson County school system. Authorities interviewed Jarrell late Thursday and "found evidence of a credible and imminent threat" to Anderson and neighboring Shelby county schools, state police said in a release.
Jarrell previously was questioned by the FBI in May over social media threats to a school in Tennessee, Kentucky authorities said.
The investigation by Kentucky authorities began after they received a complaint that the man had sent harassing Facebook messages to a New Jersey woman. During questioning, an FBI agent asked Jarrell about a past school shooting threat in which Jarrell had been a suspect, according to his arrest citation. Jarrell admitted to making the threats and consented to a police examination of his phone, the court record said.
The review found information pertaining to "threats of bodily harm against multiple persons at a school," it said.
A search of Jarrell's home turned up evidence "corroborating the information that a threat was valid and imminent," the citation said. It did not specify which school was threatened.
Jarrell was charged with two counts of second-degree terroristic threatening and one count of harassing communications, state police said. He was being held in the Shelby County Detention Center.
As a precautionary measure, Anderson County public school officials canceled classes district-wide Friday after state police alerted them the prior evening of a "high potential possible, credible threat" to a school system, the district said in a Facebook post. The district said there was no evidence that an Anderson County student was involved in the threats.
In Shelby County, the school system said it was suspending all activities Friday that were planned at Shelby County High School until further notice. The district is on fall break so regular classes were not in session.
Jarrell formerly attended Shelby County schools, a district spokeswoman said Friday.
Officials in both districts said they were awaiting more information from police before deciding whether to cancel extracurricular activities.
Kentucky authorities were notified Thursday that Jarrell was accused of sending harassing, racially motivated messages to a New Jersey woman, the arrest citation said.