LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Monday's shooting death on Woodhill Drive in Lexington brought the total number of homicide's the city has investigated in 2020 to 34. The number easily surpasses last year's total of 30.
For Andre Washington, one was too many, as her grandson Mykal Waide was killed by gunfire this August.
"We miss him. We miss him a lot," she said. "Christmas Eve was really hard for me," she said of last week's holiday.
The 34 homicides only represent less than one-quarter of the total shooting the city has reported this year. That number was in the 130s as of December 7.
Washington believes the high number of gun violence instances are due to kids wanting revenge for something.
"I want revenge too, for whoever did this to my grandson, but I want it in the right way. I want him to go through the courts and be punished for what he did," Washington stated.
Washington has been in contact with Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt in recent months and hopes to serve a role with her office as a community activist. Corey Dunn and his brother Brannon are already serving in that role, running various programs independently.
"I have the ability to help, so why wouldn't I," Corey Dunn said. "Seeing these people in their time of need, having the ability to help them, and turning your back on them, that to me is savage," he continued.
Dunn said two people did not turn their back on him as a youngster, so he's trying to pay it forward now.
Brannon Dunn is focused on his "Resolve" initiative.
"Resolve is to mediate those issues before they turn physical because once they turn physical, it can escalate and become deadly," Dunn said.
The brothers Dunn say they know so many of the victims and suspects from this year's shootings, and Corey knows precisely why it's been happening at this record-setting pace.
"It's a symptom of a much larger problem, which is poverty and all of the things that are bred within poverty," he said.
Brannon likened it to COVID-19.
"It's liked being exposed to the virus. They were exposed to it at one time or another, which is why they are spreading the disease," Dunn said of many of the suspects who grew up in poverty. They were exposed to violence at an early age.
"It's sad because we're all connected. What these kids are doing is wrong," added Washington.
