Justin Cooke, a 43-year-old man, was fatally shot on the evening of Friday, March 17, 2023, in the parking lot of a Marathon gas station located at the intersection of North Martin Luther King Boulevard and Third Street in Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington police responded to multiple calls about the shooting around 7:30 p.m. and found Cooke with life-threatening injuries. He was transported to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
A woman who was in a vehicle with Cooke at the time of the incident later realized she had also sustained a non-life-threatening injury and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The investigation into the shooting led to the arrest of a suspect four days later. Evidence presented by the Lexington Police Department included surveillance footage that reportedly captured the suspect, wearing ripped jeans, a black top, and black slide sandals, approaching Cooke's vehicle and firing multiple shots before fleeing the scene on foot. Further evidence came from an ankle monitoring device the suspect was wearing, which placed him at the gas station at the time of the murder.
The suspect's girlfriend also provided a statement to the police, confirming that the description of the shooter's clothing matched what the suspect was wearing on the day of the incident. Although the suspect told detectives he had been in the parking lot on the day of the shooting, the culmination of evidence led to his arrest and subsequent charges. He was initially charged with murder and second-degree assault, and his case was sent to a grand jury. He later pleaded guilty to amended charges of first-degree manslaughter, convicted felon in possession of a handgun, evidence tampering, and second-degree assault. Cooke, who was born in Decatur, Georgia, on July 6, 1979, left behind multiple children, including a 7-year-old daughter.
