Students of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky were attacked by a former student with possible political motivations. The attack left two females harmed but neither with fatal injuries.
On Friday morning, about thirty students were gathered in the Jazzman’s café in the on-campus Glenn Building site. The site, university officials stated, is a popular hangout hub for students. 19-year-old Mitchell Adkins, a student who had discontinued his study at the college in 2015, came into the café and started questioning students about their political affiliations. Tristan Reynolds, a witness to the incident, told the Lexington Herald, “He banged something on the table and said that the ‘day of reckoning’ had come.”
Reynolds then described how Adkins went on to ask those in the café whether they were Democrats or Republicans. “One person said that they were Republican, and then he [Adkins] told them that they were safe,” Reynolds added. Campus officials later gave a statement stating that political motivations may have driven Adkins to carry out the attack. “He seemed to have been protesting the alleged mistreatment of conservatives,” officials stated.
When Adkins continued with his questioning of students, those who had not been paying attention to him began to noticing him and going out. Reynolds recalls that the scattering of students preceded the showing up of campus security. “They [public safety officers] got him before he could escape,” Reynolds remarked. It is not clear how the officers learned of the incident. Sgt. Jervis Middleton of the Lexington Police Department stated that the quick arrival of the officers saved others in the café from further injury.
When the safety officers arrived, two women had been hurt by Adkins who used a machete he had brought with him. “Adkins was found in possession of several knives and a machete at the time of his arrest,” confirmed Lexington Police Chief Mark Barnard. The campus security detained Adkins until the Lexington police officers arrived and took him into custody. One of the females attacked by Adkins was treated and released after the incident, but the other is recovering in hospital from non-life-threatening injuries.
Mitchell Adkins will be charged with one count of first-degree assault, three of first-degree endangerment and one count of fourth-degree assault, according to Sgt. Middleton. No bail or bond hearing has been set yet. Meanwhile, the students at the university were notified of the incident via text and the school put on lockdown. Classes were canceled and will resume on Monday. A nearby Catholic school, Sts Peter and Paul, was also placed on a temporary lockdown.
The university spokesperson Michele Sparks, the VP of Marketing and Communication in the school, said that students would receive counseling because of the traumatic incident. The college will also host a meeting next week to evaluate the incident. Sparks additionally noted that the reason so few people had been hurt in the incident was that their security had responded fast. “They just completed active shooter training, which turned out to be useful in this case,” Sparks said, “our students also showed good judgment when they used the fight or hide procedures we had taught them.”
