Kentucky mall shooting victim was 17-year-old boy, police say; 2 arrested

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The victim of a fatal Kentucky mall shooting was identified Monday as a 17-year-old boy and two people associated with him were arrested and charged with tampering with evidence, authorities said.

Kenneth Wayne Bottoms Jr. died Sunday at the University of Kentucky Medical Center of a gunshot wound, the Fayette County Coroner’s Office said in a statement. The manner of death was listed as a homicide.

Two others who were wounded in the shooting late Sunday afternoon outside a store at the Fayette Mall in Lexington are believed to be uninvolved bystanders, police said in a statement. The 41-year-old man and 17-year-old girl suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The shooting unfolded Sunday at the Fayette Mall in Lexington.

The shooting appears to have followed a verbal altercation between the shooter, Bottoms and others, police said in a statement. A single suspect is believed to have fired shots at Bottoms and then fled the scene, the statement said.

Officers evacuated the mall and checked each store after the shooting, police said in a statement.

Cion Townsend, left, and Nasir Lyons were arrested. (Fayette County Detention Center)

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Police have not released details on the shooter, but have sought tips from the public to help in the investigation.

Meanwhile, officers arrested Nasir Lyons and Cion Townsend, both 18, who were at the mall at the time of the shooting and were associated with Bottoms, police said. Both men were seen removing evidence from Bottoms’ body and then running away, news outlets reported, citing arrest citations.