Teens, disputes drove a Lexington homicide record. COVID-19 made cases hard to solve
Many of Lexington’s record-breaking 2020 homicides were violent conclusions to arguments or other crimes involving male adults or teens.
There were 34 homicides in Lexington in 2020, a 13 percent increase from 2019, according to Lexington police data. The previous record was 30, set in 2019. The difficulty of identifying suspects in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic made matters worse for police.
“Everybody’s wearing masks,” Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers told the Herald-Leader. “That puts a little extra work on us, and we have to corroborate a little bit more on some of the things without having a full face.”
Blaming the pandemic — and its lasting effects on the economy and morale of residents – for an increase in homicides would be “speculation, or maybe even anecdotal,” Weathers said, but issues caused by COVID-19 may have contributed.
With some people out of work and fewer things to do outside the home, pent up frustration may have led to more violence, Weathers said.
More than 70 percent of Lexington’s 2020 homicides likely involved people who knew each other, and there was often some sort of dispute that led to killings, Weathers said. Disputes possibly are more common in the pandemic, he said.
Homicides, shootings increased elsewhere too
Lexington broke its annual homicide record for the second consecutive year — but the city didn’t have the spike in killings that occurred in other municipalities.
Twenty-eight of Lexington’s 2020 homicides were shootings, according to police data. Lexington also had 140 nonfatal assaults with guns, which was a 27 percent increase compared to 2019.
“I think what we’re seeing is something that’s happening nationally across the country,” Weathers said. “Shootings are up, and homicides are up.”
Compared to the rest of the country, Weathers said Lexington’s increase was relatively low. Nationwide, murders and other homicides increased nearly 15 percent in the first six months of 2020, according to the FBI.
Numbers were much higher in some cities over a longer time period. Data compiled from 57 U.S. police agencies found there was a 36.7 percent increase in homicides over the first nine months of the year, according to the Washington Post.
“We’re running lower,” Weathers said. “Even with that being said, one is too many.”
Lexington police: Homicide risk ‘very low’ for most people
In addition to disputes between people with “personal involvement,” drugs or other criminal behavior have been factors in some homicides, Weathers said.
“Sometimes they are involved in activities they probably shouldn’t be involved in,” Weathers said.
Because the majority of homicides originate from those issues, the threat of homicide to the general public is not high, Weathers said.
“If you aren’t involved in some of these activities, the chances of becoming a victim are low,” Weathers said. “Very low.”
Nevertheless, an October shooting left an innocent bystander dead when people in two vehicles on Fifth Street exchanged gunfire and shot 82-year-old Alice Carter in the chest, according to police.
An August shooting at the Fayette Mall killed Kenneth Bottoms Jr., who was involved in a dispute with the shooter, according to police. But two patrons inside the mall were also struck with shots and had to be treated for injuries, police said.
Teens involved in nearly 40 percent of Lexington homicides
Teenagers were involved in a substantial number of Lexington’s shootings in 2020. Nearly 25 percent of all nonfatal shootings in 2020 involved teenage victims and nearly 40 percent of all fatal shootings involved a teenage suspect or victim, according to Lexington police data.
Five of those homicides involving teens occurred in August. Four of those occurred within one week of each other. At the time, Mayor Linda Gorton responded to the surge of teen gun violence by asking the community to “unite to turn our children away from a path of violence.”
Weathers pleaded with Lexington residents at the time to assist young people who they worry may be making poor decisions.
There were zero homicides involving teenage victims or suspects for the remainder of the year, according to police data.
Lexington investigators work on open homicide cases
Lexington had 10 open homicide investigations from 2020 at the end of the year. Lexington police have either made an arrest, identified a suspect or cleared the case for other reasons in about 71 percent of the homicides, according to the department’s crime statistics.
“I think what we’re doing — aggressively investigating the homicides or the shootings as they occur, is helping our clearance rate,” Weathers said. About 73 percent of 2019 homicides were cleared by the end of 2020, according to police data.
The goal is to solve “100 percent” of the homicide cases, Weathers said, but the department has to contend with uncooperative witnesses.
The majority of witnesses help police investigations, Weathers said.
“It’s just that there are some people that might have a legitimate fear of ... coming forward,” Weathers said. “And for those people, we do have ways for them to contact the police department anonymously.”
When witnesses don’t come forward, police have to rely on evidence at the scene, Weathers said. The evidence has to be analyzed, and it can take months or even years for investigators to identify a suspect without witness cooperation.
“Just because we don’t make an arrest this year, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to make an arrest next year or several months down the road,” Weathers said. “We still keep working on them, and we still keep hammering at them.”
Weathers asked for the community to “remain diligent” in order to assist police in solving open investigations.
“I know it’s hard sometimes for people to want to report stuff if they just have a feeling or they have an inkling, or they hear this information they can’t corroborate, or they can’t actually say is truthful or not,” Weathers said. “But you need to report it. We can do the job of trying to sift through that information to try to find out if it’s valid or not.”
Weathers said that cooperation with police could potentially help the department prevent future assaults and killings.
“Don’t wait until something bad happens,” he said.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 2:57 PM.