In the early morning of August 17, 2017, Adan Perez Mejia, 25, was shot in the face about 5:30 a.m. after an altercation with an acquaintance in the Imperial Estates mobile home park on West Loudon Avenue in Lexington, Kentucky. A friend removed Mejia from the scene, where police later found a large amount of blood and tissue. Mejia’s body was found that afternoon inside a parked car on Wickland Drive.

Witnesses led investigators to identify 41-year-old David K. Trent as a suspect. A warrant for Trent’s arrest on murder charges followed. A week later police located Trent in the Costigan Drive area; he attempted to flee on a motorcycle and struck a police cruiser before being taken into custody. Reports say Trent and Mejia were acquaintances who had been in a dispute.

Trent was initially charged with murder, evidence tampering, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and persistent felony offender status. In August 2020 he pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree persistent felony offender; other charges were dismissed and a 15-year sentence plus $4,800 restitution was announced in October 2020. Does anyone have information about the dispute between Mejia and Trent or about the early-morning events that led to the shooting?