Lexington has recorded its 28th murder in 2017, breaking the old mark for the highest number of homicides set in 1999 and 2011.
The shooting death of 51-year-old Anthony Carter Thursday raised the murder count to 27 for the year.
On Friday afternoon the Fayette County Coroner ruled Thursday night’s death of 37-year-old Kimberly Dianne Dayton a murder. Her strangled body was discovered in a Winburn Drive apartment.
Mayor Jim Gray says the community’s homicides are almost always the result of ongoing criminal behavior.
“The majority of them are regrettably related to drugs, domestic disputes, disagreements between people who know one another. So, these are not random acts of violence. That we do know,” said Gray.
Gray says members of the police force work aggressively to investigate these crimes. He says the number of police officers stands at 630, the highest in the city’s history.
Gray says that number will be moving up to 660 in the months ahead.
The shooting death of 51-year-old Anthony Carter Thursday raised the murder count to 27 for the year.