A brief encounter outside a Cook Out on South Broadway in Lexington turned fatal for 21-year-old Dametrius Hampton on September 29, 2023. According to police, Hampton stumbled into a man who was later identified as 22-year-old Jacolby Williams, and a verbal altercation escalated until Williams allegedly drew a handgun and shot Hampton in the chest. Hampton was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lexington detectives used restaurant surveillance and witness statements to identify Williams as the shooter. Williams fled in an older Ford Escape; investigators later found the abandoned vehicle on East Sixth Street using license plate readers and traffic cameras. A 9 mm shell casing recovered from the Escape matched one at the scene, and an arrest warrant charging Williams with murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was issued.

Williams left Kentucky but was located after an anonymous tip and arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 19, 2023, then returned to Lexington and booked in the Fayette County Detention Center. If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about that parking lot encounter, please share what you know.