Council member discusses safety measures after Lexington shooting

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Three days after a mass shooting in Lexington killed a 16-year-old and injured four others, District 1 Council Member Tyler Morton is speaking out about safety measures moving forward.

“Any family that is affected negatively in Lexington, I see them as a piece of my family,” Morton said.

Morton represents the district where the shooting took place.

Community safety concerns

“No community in Lexington, no neighborhood in Lexington should feel like they can’t go outside of their doors, or go to their parks or their community centers, or the Lyric Theater, wherever you like to go in your community without feeling safe,” Morton said. “That’s an issue, and that’s the city’s responsibility to make sure that you’re safe.”

Morton said neighborhoods can request public safety coverage for community events, but that coverage sometimes comes with a cost. He said he is working to remove some of those barriers for future events.

“One event, one tragedy, should not stop community from gathering, and we can’t shut down events, we can’t shut down community days because of a tragedy, because what that does is then our community dies,” Morton said. “Then we go off in our silos, then we go off and we stop connecting.”

Youth programming initiative

Morton said he and fellow Council Member Joseph Hale are creating a legislative item to revitalize youth programming in Lexington. The initiative includes building recreational enrichment, employment opportunities and mentorship.

“Our youth are a decent portion of this gun violence, as well as they’re seeing other folks in their community do it, so not even our youth dealing with gun violence but all of our youth. They should have a platform where they can put their ladder on it, and they can dream and define success up here, and climb toward that dream,” Morton said.

Victims’ families