Incidents of youth gun violence have been on a yearly decline since 2021, according to a report presented to Lexington council members.
Last year, city program ONE Lexington engaged with more than 5,500 people aged 10-to-29 years old to help reduce gun violence. They gave a report on 2025’s gun violence statistics to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government’s Social Services & Public Safety Committee Tuesday.
According to that report, residents aged 10-to-29 years old were victims of 32 shootings in 2025. That’s five less incidents than the year prior, and 37 less than the four-year average of 69. There were 10 homicides from gun violence in 2025 within that age range, the same amount as the year prior.
ONE Lexington Director Devine Carama attributed that decline to community engagement.
“What we learned in the 80s and 90s is that you cannot arrest or incarcerate your way to a safer community long term,” Carama said. “And so in the early 2000s you started to see community based organizations like ONE Lexington pop up in cities all over the country, and so we all kind of work together in synergy.”
Last year, ONE Lexington mostly engaged with young people through assemblies and in-school programs. They spent $203,024 on crisis response, which includes providing shelter, food and utilities to victims.
“That is a family who is being targeted by gun violence and may need temporary hotel stay or maybe relocation. That is property damage, somebody's home who wasn't even involved in an incident, but their car was shot or their home was hit with gunfire,” Carama said.
The group says it wants to improve its work in the short-term by working with more survivor-led organizations and creating more career opportunities for young people around the city.
