Man shot outside shopping plaza in Lexington, police say

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Lexington police are investigating a shooting in a public parking lot.

Police said they responded to Tates Creek Centre around 6:45 Tuesday evening for a report of shots fired. When they got to the scene, they found a man who had been shot.

Police said the man was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Shoppers said they’re concerned about safety after the scene.

“This light holds forever. So I kept thinking, ‘what if I had been sitting at this light with my kids, when somebody decided they wanted to come through here and have total disregard for everybody who is innocent?’” shopper Alexis Drake said.

It’s not clear what was going on in the moments leading up to the shooting, or where shots were fired. Officers spent most of the investigation at a car right at the intersection of Tates Creek and the shopping plaza.

“It’s scary. It makes me want to start shopping somewhere else, but I don’t know where I would go because it’s right down the street from my home,” Drake said.

Drake was just one of several concerned shoppers stopping to ask what happened. She’s there often, and is afraid the violence is becoming too much.

“It wasn’t like this when I moved here. I’m a small town girl, and I’m thinking I might be going back to the small town just to have that sense of security,” Drake said.

Another shopper said she was alarmed and saw some of the chaos in the moments after the shooting.

“From this far left corner we saw a lady sprinting. She was in her bathing suit, bare feet, just running. She approached the car that’s parked over there that they’re obviously investigating. The cops were like ‘stop’ and escorted her to where they were interviewing other people. You could tell she was really frantic,” shopper Jessica Merrick said.

Merrick is also there often. She said in the city overall, but the incident Tuesday night has startled her.

“You think you can just walk into a Kroger, or walk into any store and it’s just a normal day but you never know really what is going to happen. You just kind of have to be on your guard and watching what’s going on around you,” Merrick said.

We’re told police don’t have any information to release on a suspect and they’re working to determine why the person was shot.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Lexington Police at (859) 258-3600. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers by calling (859) 253-2020, online at www.bluegrasscrimestoppers.com, or through the P3 tips app available at www.p3tips.com.

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