Armed man arrested at UK Hospital arraigned as details emerge

A law enforcement official walks through the scene of the investigation on Friday, March 26, 2021, at Bryan Carroll’s home in Versailles, Kentucky. Photo by Jack Weaver | Staff

Michael Clubb & Natalie Parks

As law enforcement officials pursue an investigation into an armed man arrested at UK Hospital, more details about the weapons on the scene have been released.

Bryan Carroll, 44, was arrested upon his exit from the hospital the morning of Thursday, March 25. According to the arrest citation, Carroll had two handguns in his waistband. Two long guns and a “large amount ammunition” were visible in the backseat of Carroll’s vehicle, along with a suspicious package “made of paper and tape.”

At that point, the arresting officers called in Lexington police’s bomb detection unit. The ensuing search shut down nearby roads for nearly four hours and revealed three additional guns and “four improvised explosive devices”, for a total of seven guns and four other weapons.

Arresting officers also found a tin of “an unknown white/grey powdery substance.”

Carroll was arraigned in Fayette District Court on Friday, March 26, 2021. He was charged with 14 offenses, including five counts of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and four counts of possession of a weapon in mass destruction.

According to a federal affidavit, the two handguns were loaded with six and seven rounds respectively.

Carroll will be assigned a public defender to represent him and his trial will be held on April 1 at 8:30 a.m.

Carroll will likely face federal charges. FBI spokesperson Sara Anderson said she did not expect federal charges to be filed before Friday afternoon.

Following the crisis at UK Chandler Hospital, multiple law enforcement agencies surrounded Carroll’s residence in Versailles and set up a road blockade beginning by 6 p.m. on Thursday and continuing into Friday.

Alicia Matthews, a resident in Carroll’s neighborhood, said she knew Carroll and his parents – “a nice older couple.” Carroll was visiting a family member in the hospital when he was arrested, according to the UK police’s Thursday briefing.

“I’m surprised about the situation at the hospital and what’s going on at the house now, but there’s been trouble in that house for some time,” Matthews said. “We really weren’t surprised, when we knew that the police were here, that that’s where they were going.”

Carroll had a history of arrests in Woodford County, including kidnapping, drug and assault charges.

“It’s just incidents,” Matthews said of the trouble in the house. “…Never anything to this magnitude that I would ever have thought that this would be going on in our street.”

After obtaining a search warrant, law enforcement officials entered the house and found multiple explosive devices.

The federal affidavit filed in support of the search said Carroll had violated Title 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), the clause in this federal law that prohibits convicted felons from possessing firearms.

FBI agents conducted “controlled explosions” periodically on Friday to neutralize those materials.

Some neighbors were asked to leave their homes. Because of the police blocking off the street, others were unable to drive home and had to leave their cars down the street.

Matthews is one of the neighbors whose house is past the blockade, so she cannot bring her car home.

‘It’s unnerving,” Matthews said of the explosives so close to her home. But one of the police officers told her she would be safe if she stayed inside.

“I’m not worried. I’m sure they’re detonating these things in a safe manner,” Matthews said.

Matthews said she didn’t know much about the situation until the Friday morning news.

“They’re very tight-lipped about it, which I know they have to be, but still,” Matthews said.

UK police were tipped off for Carroll’s initial arrest on Thursday by Versailles police, who had an arrest warrant issued for Carroll after he failed to appear in court on a drug-related charge, according to the federal affidavit.

Law enforcement officials remained at Carroll’s address Friday evening and will conduct a search of the house when the explosives are cleared. 

“Boy, I hope it’s over soon,” Matthews said.

Jack Weaver contributed reporting.