In a tragic turn of events, a shooting on Saturday evening at a Kentucky park left one person dead and four others injured.
Governor Andy Beshear addressed the unfolding news of the Lexington shooting during his speech at the Kentucky Democratic Party’s Moving Forward Together event held at the Hyatt Regency. The venue was just a short distance from Charles Young Park, where the shooting occurred.
A gripping video shared by Devine Carama, who leads the Lexington mayor’s youth gun violence reduction program, captured the moment gunfire erupted.
“My heart is broken,” Carama expressed. “This evening we experienced a shooting at the park, resulting in multiple victims and one person battling for life. While I was trying to shield four young individuals, someone standing merely eight inches away was shot,” he recounted in a post.
The video startlingly captures at least 13 shots echoing through the park.
Carama recalled other parkgoers ‘trying to help with CPR,’ one lifting a young victim ‘who got shot,’ and ‘EMS responding to multiple victims in real time.’
‘This is not normal. We come together every year as a family and kick it on the Eastside and we haven’t had something like this happen, EVER,’ he wrote.
Chief of Lexington Police Lawrence Weathers was on the scene investigating as well, LEX News reported.
Five people have been wounded, including one person who was killed, following a shooting in Lexington, Kentucky, on Saturday around 6.45pm. Footage posted by an attendee showed the moment the shots rang out
At least 13 shots were fired, according to the hectic video. The poster recalled parkgoers performing CPR and lifting young victims who had been shot
‘To stop mass shootings, we have got to elect Democrats that will actually do something about it,’ Beshear said during his speech, hours after other shootings in Virginia and Michigan.
Chief Weathers said multiple children were among those shot in an update issued at the scene shortly thereafter.
He said a 4-year-old, a 14-year-old and two adults were shot around 6.45pm at Charles Young Park. All were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The park was in the midst of an outdoor concert event slated for 6 to 8pm, the Lexington Herald Leader first reported.
It remains unclear whether a suspect was apprehended.
Weathers told reporters at the scene that he didn’t believe there was a threat to the public, the Herald Leader reported.
A Lexington Police Department spokesperson told the Daily Mail the investigation was still active around 10pm ET.
‘No further details are available at this time,’ they said.
Police are seen convened near Charles Young Park, the scene of the shooting, just before sundown
Gov. Andy Beshear used the shooting to urge citizens to vote Democrat during a speech at the Hyatt Regency not far away
Police descended on the park, where there was reportedly an outdoor concert in place, after witnesses reported gunshots at 6.48pm, police said – adding that they did not believe there was any more threat to the public
People were seen frantically fleeing. Police did not mention a suspect
The University of Kentucky HealthCare, meanwhile, reportedly sent an email to employees saying that it had responded to the ‘tragic shooting at Charles Young Park’ to provide care to ‘multiple patients.’
Police were filmed making a perimeter around the park with their cruisers before sundown.
Chief Weathers told reporters during his press conference: ‘If you know somebody who might be inclined to use a weapon, please do anything you can do to let us know before something happens. Please let us know.’
A Michigan mass shooting that took place on Friday left a 45-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy dead.
Suspected gunman Chad Hickman is also believed to have killed a 53-year-old man at a second home nearby and a 29-year-old woman who was found dead in a wooded area alongside Hickman, who turned the gun on himself, cops said.
A shooting at Virginia State University early Saturday injured five people, including a student, in an incident that involved ‘multiple suspects,’ according to the school. A 19-year-old suspect was arrested Saturday evening. The shooting remains under investigation.