LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Nearly two weeks after a shooting outside Wild Health Field left seven people injured, one Lexington man wants to share his side of the story.
Brandon Walker had been promoting his birthday party for weeks. Expecting at least 200 people, he decided to rent the Lexington Legends stadium for the event.
“To be honest with you, I thought it’d be safer to be there because downtown, it seems like there’s always something going on down there, so I was trying to take people out of the environment, take them to Legends Stadium, and show them something different,” said Walker.
Prior to the event, Walker signed a contract for the rental. He told LEX 18 that the contract outlined security measures including Wild Health Field security along with Lexington Police.
LEX 18 requested the contract, but Legends staff said they couldn’t disclose information due to the ongoing investigation of the shooting. Lexington Legends CEO and President Andy Shea said the promise of police on site is not an accurate description of their agreement with Walker.
Lexington Police protocol keeps them from providing security for private events, they can only patrol the area.
Walker described the event as growing far beyond the 200 people he expected. As attendees spilled into the parking lot, he said the security he was promised could not be found. From his perspective, the growing crowd outside the stadium warranted additional police and security.
“I said all I wanted was no problems… five minutes later, here come the gunshots,” recalled Walker.
Lexington Police responded to the shots fired call at 2 a.m. When they arrived outside Wild Health Field, seven people were injured and on their way to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Walker told LEX 18 he’s tired of being associated with what he calls a failure on security’s behalf.
“I don’t want my name on stuff like this, ya know, my love and prayers go out to the women that were injured,” said Walker.
Shea confirmed that a third-party private security company was hired for the event. He also claimed that no security or safety concerns were ever raised by the people throwing the event.
