LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18 — One man is dead, and five people are injured after an overnight shooting in Lexington. Fatal shootings have been on the decrease over the past two years after they spiked in 2022. These are statistics through August 9 of each year. Non-fatal shootings have also been on the decrease since 2022, but community leaders say they're still way too high.
Lexington’s community is reflecting on last night’s shooting on National Avenue in front of the El Cid’s restaurant. One woman who was there, who wanted to remain anonymous, says, "I was with my friends, we were getting a drink, and then all we hear is gunshots going off."
31-year-old Antoine Clay was killed when the mass shooting happened around 12:15 p.m. The woman says she knew him. She says, "He was a good person, I hate that, that happened to him."
Chad Walker is a co-property owner of several businesses in the area. When he got the call last night he says, "It absolutely floored me, and I thought it was a joke. You know it's, mass shooting? What are we talking about? That doesn’t happen in this part of the town."
Walker says he says this area is a tight-knit group of businesses.
For the past couple of Thursdays, El Cid has been hosting parties here late into the night that Walker and his other property managers say they weren't even aware of. However, they also shared that this business is in the process of being evicted, and they have until Monday to leave.
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Walker explains, "We found out about it, we actually watched the footage last night and yeah, it was, it was a full house."
The video that he watched, he shared that with LEX 18, but didn't want to make it public because it's an ongoing investigation. But it shows the moment that the shots were fired, that sent people running.
The woman who witnessed the incident says, "[I] ran to the ground, went behind the bar and we was hiding and when we got up the police was here and we seen bodies on the ground and people was trying to help them."
Walker says he just put up that security camera Thursday evening. He wants to keep this an area that's safe for families.
Walker says, "Tenants are all told exactly what's expected in the neighborhood, no loud music, it's all zoning and planning stuff. But then we go a step above to make sure that everybody can enjoy their property because it affects across the street it affects next door."
