21-year-old dies in Christmas Eve shooting off Transylvania Park in Lexington

A 21-year-old Tates Creek High School graduate was shot multiple times and killed on Christmas Eve in an apartment building in an area where University of Kentucky students live, according to the Fayette County coroner.

The shooting at 318 Transylvania Park was across from Maxwell Elementary School and near the UK campus. Coroner Gary Ginn called the area “the heart of university property.”

“I’ve lived in Lexington almost 50 years, and this is a real quiet street,” he said.

A neighbor reported shots fired at 8 a.m., Ginn said. Fifteen minutes later, Ginn was called to the scene, the coroner said.

He pronounced Jonathan Meristil dead at 8:35 a.m. Meristil Is a 2017 graduate of Tates Creek High School, according to Herald-Leader archives.

Meristil was not a student at the University of Kentucky, UK spokesman Jay Blanton said.

Ginn said there is “a lot of evidence” that will be documented.

Information on possible suspects has not been released.

The homicide is the city’s 27th homicide, one less than a record 28 homicides set in 2017.

Tuesday’s shooting occurred near where former UK student Jonathan Krueger was killed in 2015. Krueger, who was the photo editor of UK’s student newspaper, was shot on East Maxwell Street near Transylvania Park. Three suspects in his death await trial.

Anyone with information related to Tuesday’s shooting is asked to call police at 859-258-3600.

Anonymous tips, including photos and videos, can be submitted by texting LEXPD plus the tip to 274637. Information can also be sent anonymously through Bluegrass Crime Stoppers at 859-253-2020 or Bluegrasscrimestoppers.com.

This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 9:49 AM.