Updated: Police identify suspect who drove into Fayette Mall Friday night

There was a heavy police and fire department presence at the Fayette Mall Friday night after a vehicle was driven into the building, according to Fayette Mall’s Facebook page.

A stolen security vehicle that had been taken from the area of the Lexington Transit Center earlier “went a pretty good ways in the mall” after the mall had closed Friday night, said Lt. Wayne Terry of the Lexington Police Department.

No one was injured. An adult male was arrested in connection with the incident and will face multiple charges, Terry said.

“Luckily, he stopped on his own and gave up on his own,” Terry said.

Tuesday, police identified the driver as Shaheem Anderson, 30. His arrest citation says damage to the mall is expected to be between $10,000 and $1 million.

Terry said police received a report of the vehicle driving inside the mall at 9:29 p.m.

The stolen vehicle was being tracked by police using GPS before the incident, and it had been “spotted a few times throughout the night” before Anderson took it inside the mall, he said.

Lexington police said Tuesday that they were called to the Transit Center on East Vine Street at 6:29 p.m. because of a stolen vehicle.

“Officers located and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver fled; officers did not pursue,” police said in a news release.

At 7:11 p.m., the University of Kentucky Police responded to UK Chandler Hospital, where the driver of the stolen vehicle had pulled into the parking lot and was in the ambulance bay, according to a UK police citation.

As officers from UK and Lexington police ordered the driver to stop, Anderson allegedly fled, driving over a curb and back onto South Limestone.

Anderson was “driving recklessly and nearly hit bystanders and officers as he fled,” a separate citation by Lexington police states.

Afterward, police said they received more calls about “the vehicle and its reckless driving,” and a Lexington officer wrote in the citation that he saw the vehicle run a red light at Nicholasville Road as it turned onto Wilson Downing Road.

At about 9:30 p.m., Lexington police wrote in the citation, “the vehicle was observed driving through the West entrance of the Fayette Mall. The subject then proceeded to drive the vehicle through the mall, destroying property through out the building.”

Police have not provided information about the ownership of the security vehicle, which according to a police citation was a 2020 Honda CRV with a light bar on top. The vehicle sustained about $5,000 in damage, according to a police citation.

Terry said the mall building is structurally sound, but he said there was property damage inside.

There was visible damage at one of the entrances, on the back side of the property near H&M, where sliding glass doors lay on the ground. Planters and other items inside the mall appeared to have been knocked over. Police had blocked off that entrance to the mall, which closed at 8 p.m. Friday.

“After the mall closed this evening, Friday 2/9, a vehicle was driven into the mall entrance located on the rear side of the middle wing, resulting in damage to the doors and portions of the interior mall,” Fayette Mall officials said in a post on the mall’s Facebook page. “Fayette Mall will be open tomorrow, Saturday 2/10, as normal, but we ask that you avoid this entrance as we make repairs.”

First responders were still on scene just after 11 p.m.

Anderson was charged with two counts of first-degree fleeing and evading police, receiving stolen property (automobile over $10,000), third-degree burglary, reckless driving and possession of methamphetamine, according to police. He’s being held at the Fayette County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond for the receiving stolen property charge, a $5,000 bond for one of the fleeing and evading charges and a $1,000 bond for the methamphetamine possession charge, according to jail records.

Anderson was scheduled to be arraigned in Fayette District Court Tuesday, according to court records.

This story was originally published February 9, 2024 at 10:29 PM.