MOUNT VERNON — A 40-year-old Gambier man is in jail after making threats over the weekend to shoot Kenyon College students.

According to Knox County Sheriff David Barber, John R. Freeman of 19700 New Castle Road, Gambier, is being held in the Knox County Jail on charges of inducing panic following an incident in Gambier on Saturday night.

Barber said Kenyon College Safety Officers notified the sheriff’s office of a conversation in a Gambier bar in which Freeman allegedly stated he was going to shoot students at the college so the police would shoot him.

Deputies located Freeman at his New Castle Road residence late Saturday night and placed him under arrest without incident. An AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, along with four 30-round magazines for the rifle were recovered from the residence, but no ammunition for the weapon was found.

Barber said Kenyon College officials have been very cooperative during this investigation which is being continued by Detective Sgt. Roger Brown and Detective Doug Turpen.