The gunman shot a state trooper before driving to Richmond Road Baptist Church and firing again, killing a mother and daughter, and injuring two more.
“While this investigation is ongoing, the Richmond Road Baptist Church incident appears to be related to domestic violence,” said Gorton. “In recent years, we have seen a significant number of shooting victims and perpetrators who have had a long history of being associated with domestic violence.”
Gun violence has well-documented links to violence against women and intimate partner violence. Gorton invited Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt to the lectern to speak on the Amanda Center, a comprehensive resource center for victims of domestic violence located inside the Fayette District Courthouse.
“These doors are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, staffed 365 days a year to file petitions for domestic violence, emergency protective orders,” said Witt. “And if you can't make it through these doors, we will come to you.”
Emergency protective orders can provide victims with relief from domestic violence. EPOs can cover a range of needs, including no contact orders, restraining orders, orders to vacate, temporary child custody orders, or other assistance needed to stop abuse, like orders for abusers to attend batterer intervention programs.
Chief of Police Lawrence Weathers said the Lexington Police Department is always ready to respond to emergencies, but that preventing gun violence begins with attentive and connected community members.
“We must be totally connected, totally connected to our families, our friends, our coworkers, our communities,” said Weathers. “We have to be able to communicate so that evil in our midst doesn’t travel unnoticed. I always ask people, ‘If you see something, say something,’ but it can’t stop there. This type of violence, you must intervene.”
Weathers directed people to Green Dot Lexington, a group which provides training to empower bystanders to reject violence. Through the program, community members learn how to recognize “red dots” - words or actions which perpetuate and predict violence - and replace them with “green dots” - attitudes which promote safety and communicate intolerance for violence.
“They tell you how to safely intervene, how to de-escalate, how to report. Those are things we must do,” said Weathers. “And, if you can’t do that, how about contacting some of your lawmakers and see what they can do.”
July saw an uptick in gun violence, with three fatal and eight nonfatal shooting investigations in Lexington. In June, the city had been at its lowest levels of gun violence since 2015.