Details emerge in case of Detroit man accused in fatal shooting in Lexington apartment
A Lexington double murder case with ties to Detroit moved to a grand jury earlier this week after a Lexington detective discussed the evidence that led police to the accused.
Lexington police homicide detective Jeffrey Fugate testified Monday at a preliminary hearing that two latent fingerprints, surveillance video and witness information led investigators to 43-year-old Antonio Tyree Gaskin.
Gaskin was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Frankfort Dec. 17 and is charged with two counts of murder and one count of failing to report a death.
The investigation began on the morning of Oct. 16, when police got an anonymous call from someone saying that a relative had been shot, police said at the time.
When police got to the Crystal Gardens Apartments on Alexandria Drive, they found two people dead of gunshot wounds in one of the units.
Sharmaine Shardea Carter, 25, and Marquis Dorell Harris, 24, had each been fatally shot in the chest and the back of the head, Fugate testified. They were found in the kitchen of the apartment.
A Lyft driver who drove Harris between Lexington and Detroit regularly for about a year told police that he’d brought Harris to Lexington from Detroit on the night of the shooting. The trips were off the books because Lyft rides are not permitted to be further than a 100-mile radius from the pickup point, Fugate said.
Harris was not under investigation at the time of his death, but Fugate testified Monday that he suspected that the trips to and from Detroit may have involved narcotics.
Gaskin had been waiting for Harris when the driver dropped him off around 9 p.m. on Oct. 15, Fugate said.
Surveillance video at the apartment building shows Harris and someone believed to be Gaskin walking to the apartment a little after 9:10 the night of the shooting, Fugate testified.
Police spoke to people who lived in the apartment building, including people in the apartments beneath and adjacent to the apartment where the shooting happened.
The downstairs neighbor told police that the night before, Oct. 15, she heard gunshots between 8 and 9 p.m., Fugate said. Another person told police that they heard gunshots on the night of Oct. 15, and that they’d looked up at the clock immediately to see that it was 9:12 p.m.
Forensic investigators were able to find two latent fingerprints in the apartment where the shooting occurred, one found on a Sprite can and the other on the kitchen table, Fugate said. Both belonged to Gaskin, he said.
Police would later learn that Gaskin called Harris’ family to say that he’d met Harris when Harris was dropped off at the Alexandria Drive apartment on the night of Oct. 15, Fugate said.
Gaskin told Harris’ family that he, Harris and Carter had been the only ones in the apartment before he left the night of Oct. 15, Fugate said. Gaskin also told Harris’ family that he went to the apartment the following day and found Carter and Harris dead.
Police obtained Gaskin’s cellphone records, which place him in Lexington on the night of the shooting, in Cincinnati in the early morning hours of Oct. 16, and then back in Lexington later in the morning of Oct. 16, Fugate said.
A cab driver who brought Gaskin to Lexington from Cincinnati on the morning of Oct. 16 also corroborated that information, Fugate said. The driver told police that Gaskin had gone into the apartment that morning and returned quickly to the car, saying that his friends were dead.
The driver told police that Gaskin was emotionally distraught and crying, and that he’d gone back into the apartment to retrieve something before he and the cab driver left the apartment complex, Fugate said. Gaskin later told police that he’d known Harris since Harris was young.
Judge Joseph T. Bouvier found enough probable cause to send the case on to a grand jury, despite Gaskins’ attorney arguing that the evidence in the case was circumstantial.
Firearms were recovered from the Alexandria Drive apartment, but investigators do not believe they’ve recovered the gun used in the shooting, Fugate testified Monday.
A grand jury will hear evidence in the shooting and decide whether or not to indict Gaskin and send his case on to Circuit Court to be prepared for trial.
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 4:13 PM.
