Homicide charges won’t be filed in fatal Lexington shooting on New Year’s Day, police say
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- Lexington police ruled the New Year’s Day parking lot shooting a justifiable homicide.
- Police say a robbery occurred during a drug deal before the shooting.
- Lexington has recorded four homicides so far this year, down from 10 last year.
There will not be any murder charges filed in connection with a shooting that left two people dead in Lexington earlier this year, the Lexington Police Department announced Wednesday.
The shooting happened on New Year’s Day in a parking lot on South Broadway. Police previously said three men were shot, and one was pronounced dead at the scene while the other two were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
One of the men later died at the hospital. The Fayette County Coroner’s Office identified the victims as Marciano Jenkins, 20, of Lexington, and Julio Vazquez, 20, of Lexington.
“This has been ruled as a justifiable homicide, as it was found a robbery occurred during a narcotics transaction,” Lexington police said Wednesday.
No other details about the robbery or shooting were provided. Police said “other elements in this case” still are being investigated.
If Lexington removes these fatal shootings from its homicide count, the city will have four homicides so far this year, according to Lexington police data. At this time last year, Lexington had reported 10 homicides.
The most recent homicide took place Feb. 5, meaning it has been 153 days since the city’s latest homicide. There have not been 100 days without a homicide since at least 2008, when the police department began keeping records of the city’s homicides, according to police data.
