Business leaders in Lexington moving forward after tragedy at former restaurant
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Family members of victims in last week’s deadly mass shooting in Lexington are speaking out, as the search for a suspect continues.
Business leaders on National Avenue and Walton Avenue came together on Thursday, with a message of unity and moving forward.
“This is still a good neighborhood, I’ve been here for eight years and this is the first time we’ve ever seen anything like this happen. And I know all the businesses down here really rely on people coming down and patronizing our businesses and we just hope that continues,” said Derek DeFranco, co-owner of Mirror Twin Brewing.
On August 9th, a deadly mass shooting took place at El Cid, it claimed the life of one person and injured five others.
Now that restaurant is closed for good. The restaurant where that deadly mass shooting took place was evicted on Tuesday.
Chad Walker, the owner of the property where the restaurant was located reiterating the eviction was in no way related to the shooting.
“March 8, 2021 is when we entered in the original lease with El Cid Restaurant. On June 22nd, 2023, the lease was assumed by the, most recent owner. May 1st is when we first started eviction proceedings with the court to get El Cid out,” added Walker, of Walker Properties Management Company, LLC.
Walker says he will renovate the property with the intention of letting it become the future home of another small business.
Meantime, the victims and their families, are still reeling from the unexplained act of violence.
“My god-daughter was actually a victim, she survived, thank God. Her sister also was a victim here, so, it hit home and I also lost my son on 08-22-2021, to gun violence,” said Alisa Hairston, Hairston lost her son to gun violence.
Hairston says it is her understanding that, that night it was a regular hangout and out of nowhere shots were fired. Adding that it is difficult enough to deal with the pain of losing a child to gun violence, but to continue seeing that trend, “I feel the reason why we do not speak out because we don’t have a good relationship with the police department.”
A sentiment, Priscilla Sandifer also shares, Sandifer lost her only daughter to gun violence in 2022.
Sandifer adding that those responsible for her daughters death are still roaming the streets.
“We really have got to get stricter gun laws to help with, you know, some of this violence that’s going on,” added Sandifer.
Meantime, Walker and other business owners are planning to continue being alert in the neighborhood.
“We are encouraging all tenants to have cameras inside of their space. In addition, we have cameras throughout the neighborhood. If a vehicle enters the neighborhood from the time they enter the neighborhood to the time they leave, we can watch it,” added Walker.
Investigators are asking anyone with any type of information or possible surveillance video to contact the Lexington Police Department at (859) 258-3600 or submit a tip anonymously to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers, you can call them at (859) 253-2020 or go to p3tips.com.
