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Mugshot of Smith.
The former Lamar University maintenance worker charged with attempted murder for allegedly driving to campus with an arsenal of loaded firearms was released on bond July 8, according to information from the Jefferson County District Clerk’s office.
Mark Edward Smith, 64, was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on March 29 after university police arrested him for drunk driving, failure to identify, resisting arrest and unlawfully carrying a firearm – seven, according to officers. His bond was initially set at $4,400, low enough for prosecutors to fear for his release and call for a hearing to increase it. A judge raised Smith’s bond to $275,000 in an April 5 hearing, and he was released three months later.
“In short, he was angry because of being fired and that he went back to his house, loaded up his firearms and was going to Lamar and his intention was to hurt someone,” said FBI Agent Chris Day when asked whether Smith spoke about his intended actions March 29. According to Day’s evaluation, “He intended to harm someone that night, through his actions, by loading up the firearms, his direct travel to Lamar (and) what he recalls.”
A university officer who assisted in Smith’s arrest told the judge his maintenance job offered him nearly unfettered access to all buildings on campus, and the suspect failed to return several keys upon his termination.
Kiara Thomas of Lamar PD was the officer who made initial contact with Smith that night after the man drove up to her patrol car in an otherwise empty parking lot. Considering this an unusual situation, Thomas put some distance between her and Smith before eventually engaging the man to see if he needed directions.
Telling her his name was “Will Dickem,” Smith asked the officer if she had any children, which made the officer feel uneasy and resulted in a call for backup. Thomas noted a strong odor of alcohol on Smith’s person before he began resisting arrest.
That’s when Thomas saw the assortment of weapons in the passenger seat. With help from other Lamar officers, Thomas was able to arrest Smith without incident for the second time in a week.
A week before he allegedly arrived heavily armed to the Lamar University campus March 29, according to a Nederland officer who arrested Smith March 23, Smith threatened to “finish” NPD officers who responded to a domestic disturbance call at his home.
During a disturbance between Smith and his wife, the family locked away his weapons in a shed and kept the key from the man.
“Take me out to this shed, and I’ll take care of you mother (expletive),” officers on scene reported Smith as saying, something they took as a threat to their lives. Despite that threat, Smith was only charged with a misdemeanor March 23.
According to the District Clerk’s office, Smith is under home confinement, he must wear a GPS-monitoring device and he is expected back in court for trial in December.