LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — With three months remaining in 2022, Lexington has tied last year's homicide record of 37. A shooting early Sunday morning came on the same day families remembered past homicide victims at a "Walk a Mile in Our Shoes" event.
Woody LaPierre, 29, was arrested and charged with murder.
Adentokunbo Okunoye, 25, died at the scene of the Oxford Circle shooting, according to the Fayette County Coroner.
The record being broken wasn't lost on Jackie Shannon, who attended Sunday's event.
"I try not to think of it because in those numbers there's somebody's son, grandson, parents."
Her grandson Tyler Joshua Williams, who she served as a guardian of, was murdered in 2017. His photo and one of his shoes sat at the the event, held on the steps of the old Courthouse in Lexington.
It was one of many shoes on the steps, each sitting as a reminder of a life taken too early.
"It angers me that this is still going on," Shannon said.
The fear is the number of shoes will continue to grow as the years pass as more homicides take place.
"Something has got to give, I've watched so many of us bury our children and that's not supposed to happen, we're not supposed to bury our children, our children are supposed to bury us," said Cathy Swain, whose son was murdered.
She called on people to live by the adage, "see something, say something."
"Take just one day to go through what we go through on a daily basis," Swain said. "Think about that when you are deciding if you want to say something or not."
