The 23-year-old man Kennesaw State’s Police Department arrested in East Parking Deck Thursday, Feb. 13, for carrying weapons was confirmed to have been a KSU student, Assistant Vice President of Strategic Communication Tammy Demel said.
When asked whether or not the former KSU student, Grant Dier, is still attending KSU following this incident, Demel established that Dier is not currently enrolled. She also said that due to FERPA privacy laws, it cannot be confirmed if KSU suspended or expelled Dier.
Demel said that Dier violated KSU’s campus carry law because he did not have a permit to carry the weapons he did on campus. The campus carry law allows students with weapons-carry permits to carry handguns on campus in a concealed fashion.
KSUPD and the Cobb County Police Department both received calls around 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, reporting a “shirtless suspicious man” with a baseball cap and carrying a black duffle bag “who possibly had a firearm and was possibly discharging rounds off near Barrett Lakes Drive in Kennesaw,” according to the Sentinel.
Dier was arrested and charged with two felonies after being found in East Deck in possession of various firearms such as a handgun with ammunition and a knife, according to the Sentinel.
KSUPD arrested Dier after arriving at the scene and seeing him attempt to stuff a black duffle bag under a red minivan that did not belong to him, according to the Sentinel.
When police searched his duffle bag, they found a handgun with an empty magazine, five bullets, three empty shell casings and a knife.
The knife blade was longer than two inches, according to the Sentinel.
Georgia law states that it is a crime to carry weapons within school safety zones, including “any pistol” or “knife having a blade of two or more inches,” according to Justia.com.
“He was arrested and charged with two felony counts of having a weapon in a school zone,” Demel said.
The day that the incident occurred, students on Wildfire — a social media app students use to notify each other of emergencies on campus — posted about seeing the man who turned out to be Dier.
One user claimed to have seen a man at the top of East Deck with a knife who was yelling at the police.
KSU students were not notified by KSUPD or the KSU Office of Emergency Management about this incident.