In the early morning hours outside a Cook Out restaurant on South Broadway in Lexington, Kentucky, a brief and tragic encounter unfolded that would end the life of Dametrius Hampton. On September 29, 2023, the 21-year-old male found himself in a verbal altercation after reportedly stumbling into another man. This man was later identified by police as 22-year-old Jacolby Williams.
The argument quickly escalated, and within moments, Williams allegedly drew a handgun and fired, striking Hampton in the chest. Dametrius Hampton was pronounced dead at the scene.
Immediately following the shooting, Williams fled in an older model Ford Escape as chaos ensued in the parking lot. In the aftermath, several more shots were fired at the fleeing vehicle from the scene. Lexington Police arrived to a grim discovery and began their investigation. Detectives were able to utilize surveillance footage from the restaurant and witness statements to piece together the events of that morning. Those on the scene were able to identify Jacolby Williams as the shooter, an account that was corroborated by the video evidence.
A key piece of evidence in the investigation came from Williams' abandoned Ford Escape, which was located by police in a parking lot on East Sixth Street with the assistance of license plate readers and traffic cameras. Inside the vehicle, investigators discovered a 9 mm shell casing that was a match to one found at the scene of the crime, directly linking the suspect to the shooting. With mounting evidence, an arrest warrant was issued for Jacolby Williams on charges of murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
After the shooting, Williams fled the state of Kentucky in an attempt to evade capture. However, an anonymous tip to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers led authorities to his location. On October 19, 2023, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service and local law enforcement, Jacolby Williams was apprehended in Phoenix, Arizona. He was subsequently extradited back to Lexington and booked into the Fayette County Detention Center to face the charges related to the death of Dametrius Hampton.
