Pictured: (L) a smashed up car near the crime scene (via FOX19 screengrab); (R) the suspect, Nicolas Turner (via Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office)
Prosecutors in Kentucky allege that a petty argument online, which even included the insult of a baby as “stupid,” escalated to attempted murder in the real world.
The Covington-based case in the Bluegrass State’s Kenton County allegedly began after Nicolas E. Turner and a father got into a heated dispute on the internet. That argument allegedly involved Turner calling the man’s baby “stupid” and resulted in an in-person meeting between the two men. Rather than resolving their differences peacefully, Turner allegedly brought a rifle with him and repeatedly opened fire, hitting the victim nearly 10 times, FOX 19 reported last Thursday.
Law&Crime obtained a copy of the brief complaint in the case. The document says that on Feb. 1, the defendant tried to murder the victim, whom Law&Crime is not naming at this time. The complaint indicated the victim and suspect knew one another and that they met at a sports complex after Turner insulted the man’s girlfriend and child.
The victim told police that he was headed back to his car and thought his confrontation with Turner was over when the suspect called him a “derogatory name,” according to the complaint. When the victim turned around, the complaint said, Turner opened fire with a rifle and struck the man in the left arm, right arm, shoulder, and chest. The complaint further stated that the victim tried to escape in his car but crashed.
From there, a bystander is said to have taken the victim to St. Elizabeth Hospital.
Considered armed, dangerous and wanted, Turner allegedly left the scene and returned to the internet, where he is alleged to have bragged about the early February shooting. The defendant remained at-large as of Monday morning, but investigators seeking his whereabouts reportedly believe he could still be hiding out in the area.
In comments to FOX 19 about the case, Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders said that the “silly” but serious spat on the internet led to an in-person meeting in Latonia, which the victim is “lucky” to have survived.
“And just when the victim told police he thought the dispute was settled, Mr. Turner reportedly produced a semi-automatic rifle and shot the victim a number of times,” Sanders told the local news station.
The latest available reporting said that, remarkably, the victim was released from the hospital mere hours after being shot at least eight times.
After the shooting, the prosecutor alleged, Turner went on to post a racial slur on social media referring to the victim. Sanders construed the message allegedly posted by Turner as “bragging” about the crime.
The complaint said that the suspect sent a photo of himself — holding a rifle — to the victim’s girlfriend on social media and used the N-word.
“Imma get down in broad day if ah N***a disrespecting ours,” said a censored version of the message Turner allegedly sent the woman on social media.
Law&Crime reached out to Sanders for comment on the incident. He said the alleged attack was nothing short of “brazen” and emphasized the need to swiftly apprehend the suspect.
“This was a brazen attack with a semi-automatic rifle in broad daylight, so this is definitely someone we’d consider armed and very dangerous. The sooner we get him behind bars, the safer this community will be,” Sanders said.