3 teens charged after Fayette Mall shooting that killed 1, injured 2 bystanders
UPDATE: Lexington Police announced Monday night that they arrested Xavier Hardin, 19, and charged him with murder and two counts of first-degree assault in connection with the shooting at Fayette Mall on Sunday. He is being held in the Fayette County Detention Center.
Two teenagers have been arrested and charged with evidence tampering in connection with Sunday’s Fayette Mall shooting that killed a 17-year-old and injured two bystanders, according to police.
Kenneth Wayne Bottoms Jr. died Sunday at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital after the shooting, according to the Fayette County coroner’s office. Two “uninvolved bystanders” — a 41-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl — were wounded, but their injuries weren’t life-threatening, police said Monday.
The shooting unfolded about 4 p.m. Sunday outside the Bath & Body Works store near H&M in the most recently renovated section of the mall. The store remained closed Monday after the mall reopened.
The shooting appeared to follow a verbal altercation between Bottoms and others, including the unidentified shooter, police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said Monday. Bottoms may have known the shooter, police said.
The shooter fled before officers got on scene, Angel said.
As of Monday, police were still investigating the details of the altercation before the shooting, Angel said.
Bottoms was the third teenager to be killed by gun violence in Lexington this month.
“At this point, there does not appear to be a firm connection between this shooting and other criminal incidents that we know of,” Angel said.
Arrested teens ‘associated with’ Fayette Mall victim
After he allegedly was seen removing evidence from Bottoms’ body at the mall, Nasir Lyons, 18, was arrested late Sunday night, according to an arrest citation. Police later found Lyons at his residence, according to the court record.
Lyons was taken to the Fayette County Detention Center with a $25,000 bond, according to the jail’s website. In addition to evidence tampering, he was also charged with violating conditions of an earlier release, according to the jail.
Lyons was previously charged with possession of a handgun by a minor, assault, criminal mischief and wanton endangerment in October 2019, according to court records.
Lyons was arraigned Monday afternoon in Fayette County District Court. Judge T. Bruce Bell did not lower Lyons’ $25,000 bond because of the seriousness of the incident and the possibility of additional charges, though Bell said that he does not know if there will be any additional charges against Lyons.
Lyons is set to be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 2. He is being represented by Lexington attorney Daniel Whitley Sr., who had previously represented Bottoms in separate cases.
Cion Townsend, 18, was also arrested and charged with evidence tampering after Bottoms died, police said. Townsend was booked into the jail about 8:10 p.m. Sunday and released on his own recognizance about 11:55 p.m., jail spokesman Capt. Matt LeMonds said.
Both Lyons and Townsend were “associated with” Bottoms, police said.
Victim’s attorney: He excelled academically in right environment
Daniel Whitley Sr., an attorney in Lexington, said Bottoms was one of more than 30 of his clients who have been killed since he started practicing law less than 10 years ago. Whitley said he knew Bottoms as a kid who excelled academically and in life when in the right environment, but Bottoms struggled when he was around the wrong crowd.
“When he was in a place where he could focus on school and his life, he excelled,” Whitley said. Whitley had represented Bottoms in court. Bottoms previously had been charged with drug possession and trafficking, according to court records.
Whitley said he cried in his office Monday morning over Bottoms’ death and said others who had worked to help Bottoms were doing the same.
“What I think is scary is there’s a lot of kids just like him who, on paper are going to be labeled as a menace,” Whitley said. “In reality, there were a lot of people and a lot of services helping change his life.”
Bottoms was Lexington’s 22nd homicide of 2020. Patrick Stover, 19, died after Bottoms in a separate shooting Sunday, increasing the total to 23 homicides for the year, according to police statistics.
Mall: Extra patrols planned after shooting
Although the Bath & Body Works near the shooting was closed Monday, the rest of the mall was back to normal operations. Sarah Robinson, the marketing director for CBL Properties, which owns Fayette Mall, said the mall was working closely with local law enforcement.
The mall will have extra police patrol coverage this week and throughout the weekend, she said.
“We consistently evaluate our security measures and then we make adjustments as necessary,” she said.
Multiple gun-related crimes have occurred at Fayette Mall in recent years. Earlier this month, 26-year-old Santrice Bybee was arrested and charged after he and someone else exchanged nearly 50 gunshots outside Dillard’s at the mall on the afternoon of July 4, police said. At least one car was hit in the shooting, police said.
In August 2019, a 30-year-old cosmetologist was shot and killed at a mall exit on Nicholasville Road, police said. One month earlier, three people were shot outside Bar Louie at the mall, but the victims recovered, police said.
In October 2018, a fight outside PF Chang’s led to gunfire. In September 2017, multiple men entered Vengeance, a store at the mall, and committed an armed robbery, police said. No one was injured in the altercation. In July 2017, one person was shot in the mall’s parking lot, but the wound was not life-threatening, police said. Several cars were hit by gunfire, police said.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 8:46 AM.