Man accused of shooting victim in neck charged in Lexington’s first homicide of 2020

Following a record-breaking 29 homicides last year in Lexington, a man has been charged in connection to the city’s first killing of 2020.

The victim, 20-year-old Gregory Lee Miller Jr., died about an hour after he was shot in the neck, according to police and the Fayette County coroner’s office.

Jaquan St. Louis was charged with reckless homicide after he allegedly pointed what he believed to be an unloaded gun at the victim about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said. St. Louis, 25, unintentionally fired the gun and shot the man in the neck, according to an arrest citation.

Miller was taken to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital where he died at 8:22 p.m. Wednesday, according to the coroner.

St. Louis, who lives on Rambling Creek Drive where the shooting occurred, was due in court Thursday.

The homicide is the first in Lexington since Dec. 29, when Donald Foster was killed and buried across county lines. The suspect in the homicide, Anthony Asay, was later arrested. The alleged murder broke 2017’s record for the most homicides in a year in Lexington.

Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers said in a December interview that high-risk behaviors and drug-related activities have contributed to the violence in the city.

This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 7:44 AM.