JEFFERSON COUNTY — A bona fide doubt was raised Friday in Jefferson County Court as to the mental fitness of a 57-year-old Carbondale man arrested in Mt. Vernon earlier this week for making terroristic threats – a Class X felony.

According to Mt. Vernon Police Chief Trent Page, officers arrested Tommy Gates around 10:30 Tuesday night, when officers responded to a report of a man threatening to shoot up the Applebee’s restaurant on Potomac Drive.

Chief Page says Gates was asking people at the restaurant for money and when no one gave him money he became upset and threatened to shoot up the place.
Gates reportedly continued to make threats as he was taken into custody, eventually making threats toward the officers and threats to shoot up the courthouse. He was taken to the Jefferson County Jail and MVPD detectives began investigating the case.

According to Chief Page, close to a dozen witnesses were located and interviewed. The case was then handed over to the Jefferson County State’s Attorney’s Office which formally charged Gates Friday morning with a Class X felony for making a terroristic threat, two Class 1 felonies for making a false terrorism threat, and a Class 3 felony for threatening a public official.

During a video court hearing on the case Friday, Gates reportedly had to be muted several times as he was allegedly combative and was cursing. Court records say he again threatened the court and called it vulgar names.

However, Gates was not held in contempt of court, as officials voiced a bona fide doubt as to his mental fitness. A review of the fitness issue will be addressed at a hearing in April, while a detention hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. Gates will remain in custody pending a decision in the Tuesday matter.