Police release evidence details a year after Lexington homicide arrest
Nearly a year after a Lexington man’s arrest for an October 2024 homicide, police have released details that led them to arrest a 19-year-old suspect.
Micah Carter was arrested in December 2024 for the murder of Jadyn Sleet. In new court filings, police outline evidence that led them to charge Carter with murder, including gunshot residue, text messages and blood on the murder weapon.
In a complaint warrant made public Sept. 2, police say Carter killed Sleet at the 3600 block of Tates Creek Road.
Police were called to the scene for shots fired and located Carter with a gunshot wound to the leg. Three other individuals were seen fleeing the scene, according to the warrant.
Police located 11 spent .40 caliber shell casings at the apartment, down the stairs and over Sleet’s body near the parking lot. Witnesses said they heard a knock at the door and when it opened, gunshots rang out.
Carter told police he shot at a black car that fled the scene. Police took his phone as a result.
On the phone, police found a picture of Carter’s leg in a text message from the night of the shooting that said, “Cuh I got popped I took one with me doe.”
A Glock .40 caliber hand gun with an extended magazine was found at the apartment with blood on it and in the locked back position. This indicated it was fired until it ran out of bullets, police said.
The complaint warrant initiated the extradition of Carter to Fayette County. He is currently serving out a sentence in LaRue County on separate charges.
Carter’s initial appearance in Fayette County was scheduled for Monday.
Police have speculated the motive of the shooting is tied to a criminal street gang, the Hot Boyz, originating from Lexington’s West End, which includes the south ends of Newtown Pike and Georgetown Road.
Sleet’s family members belong to a rival gang that’s been “antagoniz(ed)“ for years by the Hot Boyz, police say.
This information became public through the arrest of Quincino Waide Jr., who police claim is another member of the Hot Boyz.
Waide, 24, was arrested in June on a federal charge of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. He pleaded guilty to the charge Monday.
At Waide’s former detention hearing, a federal magistrate judge ordered Waide be placed in custody due to his ties to the Hot Boyz.
The court documents that resulted in Waide’s placement in custody indicated his involvement in what police called a “targeted assassination” of a federal witness, Kristopher Lewis.
Lewis, 28, was found shot to death in September 2023 on Trade Street, between a pair of warehouses near Alexandria Drive.
