Arrest made in Two Keys shooting in Lexington that injured EKU football player

An arrest has been made in the June 23 shooting outside Two Keys Tavern that badly injured a university football player, Lexington police said Wednesday.

Jayontai McCann, 21, was charged with first-degree assault, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and evidence tampering. He was booked into the Fayette County jail at 12:34 a.m. Wednesday.

According to police, officers arrived at the scene to find the victim — reported by WKYT to be Eastern Kentucky University football player Cameron Catron, who hails from Belfry — with a gunshot wound. WKYT is the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner.

The incident began with a verbal altercation, and escalated into the shooting, police said. Catron was shot in the lower torso at the intersection of Pine Street and Jersey Street, behind Two Keys, police said.

“Thank God they found the guy who shot my son and he’s in jail! I pray that justice is served,” Catron’s mother, Kimberly Catron, said on Facebook Wednesday.

In June, Catron was a redshirt sophomore and a wide receiver, according to EKU’s website. According to his mother’s Facebook page, Catron got out of the hospital on July 13, after losing several pints of blood and being “near death.”

In the comments on a different post, Catron said that her son will be out for one year of football.

McCann was being held on a $10,000 bond, according to the jail website. McCann has been booked into the jail four other times, dating back to September of 2016.

According to court records, McCann was on probation at the time of the shooting after pleading guilty in August. He was charged with cocaine possession and attempted evidence tampering. His prison sentence and jail sentence on the two charges were suspended and he was given probation for two years.

He had previously been charged with other drug and gun crimes and pleaded guilty in some instances.

This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 4:40 PM.