More victims are being killed in Lexington at a faster pace than last year. Here’s why.

Eight of the nine homicides in Lexington in 2018 have involved drugs, police said while detectives investigated the latest killing Tuesday.

A 21-year-old man, Christian Cubert, was shot multiple times about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday in the area of an apartment complex at Village Drive and Devonport Drive. He died a short time later at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, according to the Fayette County coroner. Police would not say if the death was drug-related.

The shooting was the only fatal one of three that occurred early Tuesday in the city. Lexington Lt. Albert Johnson said later Tuesday that police do not have suspects and nothing connects the shootings even though they occurred within a mile or so of one another.

Cubert is the ninth homicide of the year, more than double the amount of homicides in the same time period last year, according to police and coroner data.

In last year’s record-breaking total of 28 homicides, the ninth did not occur until July 1. By the end of March 2017, there were four homicides. In 2016, there were six homicides in the same time period, and there were four in 2015, 2014 and 2013.

“There’s always cause for concern when people are dying, especially when young people are dying,” Johnson said. “We go to great lengths to make sure we are devoting our resources to the proper areas where we are seeing these problems occur. It creates a red flag for us, as well as the community.”

Drugs have been involved — whether it be drugs found at the scene or a drug deal gone bad — in all but one of the nine Lexington homicides this year, Johnson said. That is consistently the No. 1 factor for shootings, he added.

Cubert is the fifth person 21 or younger to be killed this year in Lexington. Six of the 28 people who were killed last year were 21 or younger.

Johnson said younger people are typically victims of violent crimes and Lexington is similar to other cities in that aspect.

Funeral arrangements for Cubert will be handled by Clark Legacy Center in Frankfort.

The first shooting Tuesday occurred a little after midnight on Rugby Road in the Cardinal Valley area, where a woman told police she heard gunfire and the sound of glass breaking, police Cmdr. David Lyons. Three children were inside the home at the time of the shooting, but no one was injured. Several shell casings were found, and the house was hit by bullets a couple of times, according to police.

A second shooting happened three hours later on Cambridge Drive off Oxford Drive and Versailles Road, and a man suffered serious, but non-life threatening, injuries when he was shot in his leg. The man was taken to UK Hospital.

A neighbor told LEX 18 he heard eight to ten shots fired and cries for help from the man who was shot outside his home. The injured man could not give police a description of the person who shot him, Lyons said.

“I think most of the crimes we are seeing...(the victims) aren’t people who are innocent,” Johnson said. “They aren’t just walking by and being randomly targeted. These are people who are engaged in crimes and criminal activity. As a result, these go poorly and people are injured.”

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to contact Lexington Police at 859-258-3600. Anonymous tips, including photos and videos, can be submitted by texting LEXPD plus the tip to CRIMES (274637). Information can also be sent anonymously through Bluegrass Crime Stoppers at 859-253-2020.

This story was originally published April 3, 2018 at 7:19 AM with the headline "More victims are being killed in Lexington at a faster pace than last year. Here’s why.."