VALDOSTA, Ga. — A Georgia grand jury indicted the Valdosta State University (VSU) student protester who received national attention earlier this year for walking on the American flag on an unrelated firearm charge Friday morning, according to an assistant district attorney.

Eric Sheppard was indicted by the Lowndes County, Gerogia grand jury on a single count of carrying a weapon in a school safety zone, said Assistant Southern District Attorney Brad Shealy.

Sheppard will be arraigned Oct. 16, Shealy said.

The indictment stems from an incident where a gun was found in a bookbag on the VSU campus last spring.

VSU police and the Valdosta Police Department connected the weapon to Sheppard in the days after he had walked across an American flag on campus.

The protest received national attention when former Air Force trainer and one-time Playboy model Michelle Manhart attempted to stop further protests by taking the flag. Campus police detained but did not arrest Manhart. Police returned the flag to the protestors.

In the days after the flag incident, Sheppard resumed campus protests, causing a person who was not at the protest to call police and say she had been contacted by a friend who overheard Sheppard issuing threats of violence.

When police responded to the scene, the officers discovered the gun in an unattended backpack on campus. VSU police investigators connected the gun to the Sheppard through pawn shop receipts.

A warrant was issued for Sheppard’s arrest soon after, and authorities spent a couple of weeks looking for him. While avoiding custody, Sheppard shared a manifesto with the media, claiming he would “annihilate” anyone who tried to take him into custody. The manifesto also condemned all white people and police.

Sheppard was arrested in Tampa, Florida in May. He was extradited to Lowndes County, Georgia.

He was granted bond at $25,000, on several conditions, such as being banned from VSU campus, banned from social media, confinement to his mother’s Cobb County, Georgia residence from 7 p.m.-7 a.m., restricted to staying in the area, wearing an ankle monitor, and being monitored daily by the Southern District Attorney’s office.

The Valdosta (Georgia) Daily Times contributed details to this story.