Lexington police searching for suspect after man found shot, dead in vehicle

The Lexington Police Department is investigating an early morning shooting that left a man dead.

The shooting happened around 4:56 a.m. on the 1800 block of Liberty Road. Police said when officers arrived they found a man with a gunshot wound in a vehicle. The man was declared dead at the scene.

The Fayette County Coroner’s Office will release the man’s identity after immediate family is notified.

No other information about the shooting or a possible suspect was released.

Liberty Road apartments closed off

Friday around 9:45 a.m. there was an active police presence at The Revive at 1749 apartment complex on Liberty Road. The scene is less than a mile from Friday’s homicide scene at Gatehouse Apartments on Liberty Road.

Lexington police Sgt. Guy Miller said the two scenes are connected and officers are attempting to make contact with a person of interest from the homicide.

A person was barricaded inside an apartment and officers were on scene are giving commands over a PA system for the person to come out. Many police officers were at the scene of the barricaded subject along with armored police vehicles, a mobile command unit and the department’s helicopter. Access to the Revive 1749 Apartment Complex had been temporarily closed but Liberty Road was open police say. Later Miller said the person they were looking for wasn’t there and police have since cleared the scene.

Police are asking the community for information about the shooting. People can call police at 859-258-3600 or submit an anonymous tip to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers by calling 859-253-2020 or by visiting their website at www.bluegrasscrimestoppers.com .

Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the P3 Tips app at www.p3tips.com .

The incident is the eighth homicide in Lexington this year. At this point last year the city reported 13 homicides.

In 2023, Lexington reported 24 homicides , fewer than the record-breaking year of 2022, when 44 killings took place. The last time Lexington reported 24 or fewer homicides in a year was in 2018, according to Lexington police data, which dates back to 2008.

In the past 10 years, the city has reported 24 or fewer homicides only three times, according to Lexington police records.