Students attending North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro were surprised to learn that a man had been arrested on campus after being found with several firearms plus more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition on March 26.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports that 27-year-old Brandon James Bentley was seen at approximately 4 a.m. driving erratically near Sullivan Street and Benbow Road in a 2004 Ford Mustang. After Bentley — who is white — “ran right up to officers asking for help,” as court documents described, they noticed several weapons in his vehicle on the historically Black college and university campus.
Greensboro police later found two shotguns, a rifle, two handguns, a machete, a crossbow, a stun gun, a hatchet, choking devices, pepper spray, a blowdart gun, brass knuckles and a sword in Bentley’s vehicle. Bently allegedly asked the officers for help, saying that a religious cult he found on social media was after him and he was “terrified.” Also found in the Mustang was a window breaker, a chicken foot and “holy water.”
An explosive device that turned out to be fireworks was also found in the vehicle. All of the items found were seized by the Greensboro Police Department, and the 27-year-old was arrested. However, students were not alerted of the potential threat until April 3.
A junior at the college, Shelby Samuels, said she was upset there was no warning or alerts sent out about the arrest, especially since hate crimes are an issue for the HBCU. Last year, the FBI investigated bomb threats made against 57 HBCUs through e-mails, phone calls, direct messages as well as anonymous posts on social media.
“Nothing was talked about, no alerts were sent, we have an alert system for these reasons,” she said. “Like, a part of me is like angered by it. ‘Cause, like, we’re an HBCU campus, like, hate crimes are a thing so to think he was so close to his goal of coming on this campus and doing what he…
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