BEAUMONT, Texas — Lamar University may have been moments away from tragedy last week, when Mark Smith showed up on campus with two AK-47 rifles and five loaded handguns according to testimony in a bond hearing.
Smith, who had recently been fired by the university, was stopped by Lamar Police officers who arrested him after finding the weapons in his truck.
In a Jefferson County courtroom Monday witnesses gave testimony during a hearing to raise his bond from the $4,400 it had been initially set at.
By the end of the hearing the judge decided to increase Smith's bond to $200,000.
Over the course of the hearing, police officers from Lamar University and Nederland and an FBI agent gave their testimony.
Based on an FBI interview with Smith the Lamar Police officers who stopped Smith on campus could have became the victims according to FBI special agent Christopher Day's testimony.
"This case, the facts, were so outrageous that bond, we felt, was far insufficient to protect the community," Jefferson County district attorney Bob Wortham told 12News.
"I think his intended victim was the police officer, that is my assessment, but that is not what he told us," special agent Day testified.
"He intended to harm someone that night through his actions, by loading up the firearm, his direct travel to Lamar is what he recalls," Day said in court.
Prior to Smith's arrest at Lamar, Nederland police went to his house twice in March, each time for a welfare check.
In court Monday, Nederland officers recalled Smith being suicidal and making verbal threats toward them.
Nederland Police Officer Todd Guidry testified that he told officers "Take me back to that shed and I will show my gun and kill you (expletive)."
Judge Holmes' decision to increase Smith's bond after several hours of testimony is best for everyone according to the district attorney.
"I think Judge Holmes did the right thing," Wortham said, "I'm proud of him, he's following the law and doing what needs to be done in this case."
Smith's charges and reason for termination:
Jefferson County jail records show that Smith is being held on four charges including driving while intoxicated, unlawfully carrying a weapon, failure to identify, resisting arrest. Smith had no prior convictions, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Smith was an HVAC controls mechanic at the university from May 2016 until last week, a Lamar spokesperson told 12News on Tuesday. Smith was terminated due to "a personnel matter" on March 22, 2021, according to Lamar University's human resources department. Records show Smith was suspended on March 18, 2021.
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