The Lexington Police went from saying Sunday morning that they “have no updates” on the mass shooting at Charles Young Park to the (alleged) shooter being in jail Sunday evening. I suppose that’s the kind of thing the police do to not alert the suspect that they are hot on his heels.

18-year-old arrested, charged with murder and assault after shooting at Lexington park

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears | Monday, August 17, 2026 | 4:34 AM EDT | Updated: 9:09 AM EDT

An 18-year-old man was arrested Sunday and charged with killing one and injuring four in a mass shooting, according to the Lexington Police Department.

No, of course the Lexington Herald-Leader did not publish the suspect’s mugshot, but WLKY did, and one of my electronic friends tweeted it out to the world.

The incident left a teen dead and injured four other people in Lexington’s Charles Young Park on Saturday, Lexington police said.

Jametrius M. Griffin, 18, was charged with murder, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence.

He was in the Fayette County Detention Center Sunday night.

Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn confirmed Sunday that 16-year-old Di’Zhon Robertson died from a gunshot wound as a result of the shooting. Robertson was a student at the Success Academy, and previously attended Bryan Station High School, a Fayette County Public Schools official confirmed.

Reporter Valarie Honeycutt Spears didn’t have any information as to why young Mr Griffin (allegedly) started shooting in the park, or whether 16-year-old Mr Robertson was the intended victim.

According to the inmate information lookup at the Fayette County Detention Center, Mr Griffin is charged with:

• KRS §507.020 Murder. Under section (2), Murder is a capital offense.
• KRS §508.010 Assault, First Degree, two counts. Section (2) specifies that Assault in the First Degree is a Class B Felony.
• KRS §508.020 Assault, Second Degree, two counts. Section (2) specifies that Assault in the Second Degree is a Class C Felony.
• KRS §524.100 Tampering with physical evidence. Section (2) specifies that Tampering with physical evidence is a Class D Felony.

KRS §532.020 specifies:

(1) Any offense defined outside this code for which a law outside this code provides a
sentence to a term of imprisonment in the state for:

• (a) At least one (1) but not more than five (5) years shall be deemed a Class D
  felony;
• (b) At least five (5) but not more than ten (10) years shall be deemed a Class C
  felony;
• (c) At least ten (10) but not more than twenty (20) years shall be deemed a Class
  B felony;

We do not know yet whether this was a deliberately targeted shooting, attempting to kill young Mr Robertson, or simply a drug or stupidity motivated shooting of a firearm indiscriminately, and I will not speculate, but I have to ask: was it worth it? Whether the shooter is the suspect, Mr Griffin, or perhaps someone else the police didn’t arrest, what possible rational motivation could the killer have had to risk that? Whatever the shooter’s motives, are they worth spending twenty or more years locked up in Eddyville? Mr Griffin in only 18 years old; if convicted, he’ll spend the rest of his youth, if not the rest of his miserable life, locked up in Kentucky’s worst and nastiest prison.

If the shooting was a deliberate targeting of Mr Robertson, he might even spend those years on death row, locked away by himself for 23 hours a day. Executions in the Bluegrass State have not proceeded since 2008 due to various legal challenges and the unavailability of the execution drugs, and Governor Andy Beshear, who most certainly favors the execution of the unborn, would probably never sign a death warrant for a convicted murderer. He could actually commute all capital sentences before he leaves office, but he’s running for President in 2028, so he might not want that on his résumé when it comes to the general election.

Was it worth it?

Even assuming that Mr Robertson was the deliberately intended target, what could a 16-year-old have done to warrant risking spending the rest of your miserable life in prison? What could he have done to risk spending even five years in prison?

Murder is essentially irrational, and essentially stupid. But irrational and stupid people keep committing it.