Tragedy struck Kentucky on Saturday evening during a mass shooting at an outdoor concert in Lexington, tragically claiming one life and injuring four others, including two children.
The chaos unfolded just over a mile away from where Governor Andy Beshear was presenting at the Kentucky Democratic Party’s Moving Forward Together dinner held at the Hyatt Regency. Local station FOX56 reported that gunfire shattered the evening’s peace in downtown Lexington.
Governor Beshear addressed the unsettling news with the audience, saying, “Before I continue, I do need to let y’all know we have some difficult news tonight.”
He elaborated from the podium, “About a mile and a half from here, a shooting took place since we started this dinner.”
Discussing the incident further, he added, “We have five people who sustained injuries, and there is likely one person who has passed away.”
Multiple victims, including two adults, a 14-year-old, and a 4-year-old, were shot around 6:45 p.m. in Charles Young Park and were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
An outdoor concert event was taking place when the shooting occurred, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.
A Lexington Police Department Spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the investigation was ongoing around 10:00 p.m. local time.
“No further details are available at this time,” the department said.
“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,” Chief Weathers said at a press conference.
The Charles Young Park shooting follows three others in Michigan, Virginia and Chicago on Saturday.