LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The Woodford County Coroner has identified a man found hanging upside down on a utility pipe behind a Versailles shopping center as 60-year-old Paul Masters of Nicholasville.
Versailles police said officers were called to the scene at 7:30 a.m. Monday in response to a report of a man hanging upside down. Preliminary findings suggest Masters was attempting to burglarize the building, police said.
Brett Least, owner of Workout Anytime in Versailles, said he arrived Monday morning for a routine start to the week when he noticed first responders behind the building.
“I came in just like a regular Monday morning, business as usual, dropped off my kids,” Least said.
Least said he followed first responders to the rear of the building to check on the situation.
“They went to the back where the gentleman was and as a concerned business owner I went to the back to see if everything was okay,” he said.
Least said the shopping center is normally quiet and that many of his customers use the 24/7 facility throughout overnight hours, including local first responders.
“A lot of the first responders here in Versailles are actually members that come in and out throughout the night and we’ve never had a problem here — everybody always feels safe,” Least said. “I try to keep up with every single member.”
Least said he hopes the incident does not deter people from using the gym and emphasized the security measures in place at the location.
“I always tell people when they come in here we are obviously 24/7, we’ve got 16 different security cameras and four first responder buttons to the wall,” he said.
Least also said he appreciated how first responders handled the scene.
“The thing I like about it is they kind of cut it off from the public where no one else could see it — I mean, it’s kind of a traumatic thing to look at,” he said.
WKYT reached out to other businesses in the shopping center, but they declined to comment about the ongoing investigation.
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