Police ID Fairfield driver shot to death in Hamilton

A Fairfield man was found dead Friday morning slumped over the steering wheel of a car that nearly hit a house on Charles Street, in what Hamilton police are calling the city’s third homicide this year.

Jaylon Alexander Knight, 18, was identified by police as the victim.

Dispatchers received a 911 call at about 6 a.m. Friday for shots fired on Charles Street, said Hamilton police Sgt. Brian Robinson. When officers and emergency crews arrived in the 300 block of Charles Street, they found a vehicle resting in front of a house, just shy of striking the structure.

In the driver’s seat was Knight, slumped over the steering wheel “with a large amount of blood inside the vehicle,” Robinson said.

“Some gunshots were seen coming through the driver’s side door, and the driver was found deceased at the time,” he said.

Friday’s shooting was the city’s ninth of 2016, and its third homicide. Hamilton police Officer Kristy Collins said there have been four felonious assaults, one suicide and one improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation investigations involving guns this year.

Tiara Tipton, who lives on Charles Street, said when she heard four gunshots Friday morning, she immediately got up and saw a car running outside the house. Tipton said she and her aunt shined flashlights into the car but didn’t see anyone inside.

“Knowing that it happened close to home and on my street, it makes me not even feel safe in the neighborhood anymore,” Tipton said. “It makes people want to leave Hamilton period because so many deaths keep occurring. You just don’t want your kids to be around it; nobody should die that way.”

The car Knight was found inside was towed to police headquarters so evidence technicians could comb through it for more clues. A reward is being offered for information that will lead to the arrest of Knight’s killer.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Investigations Division of the Hamilton Police Department at 513-868-5811, ext. 2002.

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