Press conference at the site of the mass shooting in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – It’s been nearly a week since a mass shooting in Lexington left one person dead and five others injured.

Since then, we have been pushing for answers from the police and listening to community leaders.

The owner of the National Avenue building where the shooting took place held a press conference.

In addition to property and business owners, we also heard from activists working against gun violence, some of whom are connected to Friday's shooting.

Alisa Hairston lost her son to gun violence a few years ago. She says Friday's mass shooting also touched her deeply.

“My goddaughter was actually a victim. Thank God she survived. She says it was a normal day; everyone was having fun and suddenly gunshots started coming from everywhere,” Hairston said.

Hairston says that during her time as an activist against gun violence, she discovered that there was a pattern behind many of these shootings.

“Most of these incidents are not random, but targeted,” Hairston said. “It's about fighting among each other.”

While Thursday's press conference was an opportunity for these activists and business owners to stand together in the wake of this tragedy, Hairston says the city must also join in this effort.

“With the resources they have and the organizations they have, we need to work together more. Can we stop the violence here? Yes, we can, because we are not as big as New York or Philadelphia,” Hairston said.

Property owner Chad Walker said the incident will remain in the memory of everyone in the area.

“Everyone who was affected by this, including myself, will carry it with them forever. We are not in this for business or profit, we are in this for building community,” Walker said.

Walker also adds that until this week he had no knowledge that the restaurant hosted nightly events like the one at which the shooting occurred.

Walker says the evacuation of El Cids was not because of the shooting, as it was already underway.

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