Updated: Fayette Mall shooting victim identified, teen charged with murder, police say
A 19-year-old has been charged with murder after a man was shot and killed outside Fayette Mall Thursday night, according to Lexington police.
The Fayette County coroner’s office on Friday evening identified the victim as Jermaine Barber, 23, of Lexington.
Jessin Stateman, 19, was arrested and charged with murder early Friday morning, according to an arrest citation. He was held at the Lexington-Fayette County Detention Center without bond, according to court records.
Police responded to the mall about 8 p.m. Thursday — the mall’s closing time — after someone reported the shots fired, Lt. Ronald Keaton said. Officers found a man who had been shot in the parking lot, Lt. Ronald Keaton said. The victim was found near the P.F. Chang’s and the Cheesecake Factory, Keaton said.
The shooting occurred after Stateman and the victim had agreed to meet outside the mall and then got into a disorder, police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said. Police didn’t clarify why the two had agreed to meet, but an arrest citation indicates marijuana was involved.
Stateman, a Danville resident, allegedly fired a pistol at the victim multiple times while the victim was walking away from him, according to an arrest citation.
The victim was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital with life-threatening injuries, and he later died, police said. The coroner’s office said an autopsy was to be conducted by the State Medical Examiner’s office in Frankfort. Funeral arrangements were incomplete as of Friday evening, according to the coroner.
Stateman was found in a nearby parking lot after the shooting and arrested without incident, police said. He was the only suspect, and no more arrests were expected, Angel said.
The Fayette Mall has been the site of repeated gun violence in recent years. In August, 17-year-old Kenneth Wayne Bottoms Jr. was shot and killed inside the mall, police said. Two other bystanders were also shot during the altercation.
Earlier in August, 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.
Herald-Leader reporter Karla Ward contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 6:49 AM.