Tylan Barnett

Two siblings charged in connection with a deadly shooting outside an apartment appeared Monday in court.

Tylan Barnett, 23, and Taylor Barnett, 27, had pretrial conferences in Warren Circuit Court, where Tylan Barnett is charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence and Taylor Barnett is charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Tylan Barnett is accused of fatally shooting Jamarco Dye, 16, of Bowling Green, on Jan. 26.

Dye’s body was found in a grassy area behind an apartment building at 110 Audley Avenue.

The Bowling Green Police Department arrested Tylan Barnett the same day the shooting occurred, while a grand jury indicted Barnett’s sister in March.

At Monday’s court appearance, attorney Matt Baker, who represents both siblings, signaled he would take the position that Tylan Barnett acted in self-defense, informing Warren Circuit Judge Chris Cohron of his plan to file a motion seeking immunity from prosecution for Barnett based on Kentucky’s so-called Stand Your Ground law.

The statute holds that a person not engaged in an unlawful activity has no duty to retreat when attacked in a place where that person has a right to be and can use deadly force if they believe it necessary to do so to prevent themself or another from death or serious bodily harm.

BGPD investigated the shooting, along with a report of an attempted burglary earlier that night at Taylor Barnett’s apartment.

According to prior testimony from BGPD Detective David Grimsley, Tylan Barnett told police that he was at a movie theater when his sister called him shortly after 12 a.m., Jan. 26 and told him that someone had tried to get into her apartment earlier that night.

Tylan Barnett came to his sister’s apartment and stayed there, reportedly telling police he saw two people approach the apartment from the back, which led him to go out onto the back patio, Grimsley testified at a preliminary hearing in January in Warren District Court.

At that hearing, Grimsley said that Tylan Barnett told police that one of the people he saw ran away and was too far from Barnett for him to engage, so Barnett fired multiple shots at Dye from a distance of about 20 yards, saw Dye fall, walked near him and threw the gun into a nearby brush line.

Police recovered the gun along with 15 shell casings from the scene.

City police learned that Tylan Barnett then walked back into the apartment and took a shower, and officers recovered the clothes he wore, as well as an open bottle of bleach from near the shower, Grimsley said.

Police located the person who was with Dye outside the apartment, and that person told police that he and Dye had walked past the apartment on their way to a convenience store on the other side of the building.

Grimsley testified that the person who was with Dye denied that they were armed or attempting to break into any apartments.

A cell phone found near Dye’s body was recovered with a Facetime call still active, and police later questioned a 15-year-old who reportedly said he was on a call with Dye when he heard gunshots over the phone.

“(The 15-year-old) said he then heard a man’s voice make a derogatory statement to Mr. Dye and a final gunshot,” Grimsley said.

Tylan and Taylor Barnett are due back in court on Aug. 25.