A 25-year-old Newport man is facing a murder charge after police say a dispute with his neighbor escalated into gunfire late Friday night, leaving the neighbor dead after he was taken to UC Medical Center. Isaac Hamilton was arrested at the scene and booked into custody within hours of the shooting, according to police.
Newport police said officers were dispatched to the 200 block of East Seventh Street around 11:20 p.m. Friday after reports of a shooting, according to local12.com. Officers arrived to find a victim who had been shot, and he was rushed to UC Medical Center, where he later died, the outlet reported. Police have identified the suspect as Hamilton, who was arrested at the scene and charged with murder, per the same report.
According to WLWT, police said the shooting followed a dispute between Hamilton and the victim, and that the two men were neighbors. Hamilton is being held at the Campbell County Detention Center, fox19.com reported, and officers are still investigating the shooting.
Victim's Identity Withheld
Police have not released the identity of the man who died, saying they will not do so out of respect for the family, the station's report noted. The precise circumstances of the dispute between Hamilton and his neighbor, including who initiated it, have not been detailed by investigators.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Newport police at 859-292-3622. Those wishing to remain anonymous can use a separate tip line, though the two outlets reported different numbers for it — local12.com listed 859-271-8477, while fox19.com listed 859-261-TIPS (8477).
Newport Shootings in 2024
LINK nky reported that Newport Assistant Police Chief Herschel Day updated the Newport Commission on three shootings in the city by Oct. 21, 2024, during a meeting that day.
One of those earlier cases, on Oct. 12, 2024, involved a male victim who was transported to the University of Cincinnati Hospital and later died from his injuries, the outlet reported. Police described that shooting as a case of domestic violence rather than a random act or drive-by, per the same report. In a separate incident on Oct. 20, 2024, a suspect allegedly fired a gun during an altercation, injuring two people with non-life-threatening wounds before fleeing the scene ahead of officers' arrival, linknky.com noted.
Under Kentucky law, a person is guilty of murder when, with intent to cause another person's death, they cause the death of that person or a third person, according to Kentucky Revised Statutes 507.020. As of Saturday, Hamilton was expected to be arraigned Monday morning.
