BEDFORD – Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputies arrested a Bedford man on a felony charge of intimidation on Wednesday, November 22.
When officers arrived at 9:31 p.m. after Central Dispatch received a report from a woman saying 27-year-old Austen Hardwick was at her home in the 2000 block of South I Street.
When police arrived they were met by a male who reported that Hardwick had just left his brother’s house and was going to purchase shotgun shells.
The female told police she was on the phone with Hardwick who was mad because she had contacted Child Protective Services. Hardwick then called his brother and said he was going to the woman’s house with a shotgun, would kick in her door, and shoot her. The woman believed Hardwick would carry out the threat. She wished to file charges.
Police learned Hardwick was parked outside of a home in the 2000 block of K Street. Bedford Police were alerted and officers responded to that location but Hardwick was not in the vehicle.
Police returned to the home on South I Street and searched for Hardwick. Oolitic canine Deny Joe tracked Hardwick from the house back to his truck where police found 12-guage shotgun shells by the vehicle. Police then went to Hardwick’s home in the 1000 block of 8th Street. He was not there. They then received information that Hardwick’s phone pinged in the 1000 block of O Street.
Bedford Police officers located Hardwick at South I and 24th Street and he was detained.
Hardwick told police he had learned his family had called DCS on him and he was going to confront them in person and “cuss them out and raise hell.” He said he had no intention of hurting anyone. He did admit to buying shotgun shells and scattering them along the road to “scare them”. Police did not find a shotgun, but Hardwick did admit he owned a 410 shotgun.
Hardwick did admit that he was walking through the woods and backyards to return to the house on South I Street when he spotted offers. That prompted him to head back north and stay out of sight.
Police did find a Walmart receipt where Hardwick had purchased a box of 25 Winchester Super X 12g shells at 9:44 p.m. Four shells were located in the street by Hardwick’s vehicle and 20 were unaccounted for. Police found an empty box of shotgun shells nearby in a neighbor’s yard.
Police noted that traveling on foot following the main roadways the distance between the 2000 block of K Street to the 2000 block of South I Street is approximately 0.8 miles and would take approximately 16 minutes to walk. However, by cutting through the woods and backyards, the distance is approximately 0.5 miles.
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