Kentucky activist faces federal charges related to shooting attack on mayoral candidate
Quintez Brown's lawyer is calling on the young activist's supporters to protest outside the federal courthouse at 1 p.m. today.
A federal grand jury has indicted Quintez Brown, the Louisville, Kentucky activist accused of shooting at a Democratic mayoral candidate.
According to The Louisville Courier-Journal, Brown was charged with interfering with a federally protected right and using and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence by shooting at and attempting to kill a candidate for elective office. He is now facing a life sentence.
His attorney, Rob Eggert, released a statement calling the federal indictment an “arrogant exercise of the government’s power.”
“When Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, was killed, the United States Attorney’s Office ran from the case,” Eggert wrote. “Here, when a Black man suffering from mental illness is accused of committing a crime against a white mayoral candidate, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, at the prompting of Sen. Mitch McConnell, jumps in with both feet” and “snatches the case from state prosecutors.”
The Courier-Journal is reporting that Republican Senate leader McConnell publicly complained about Brown being released on home incarceration and about the fact that a nonprofit was able to post his $100,000 bail. McConnell’s office has not responded to requests for comment.
“The U.S. Attorney’s office is not trying to protect the community,” Eggert claimed. “Instead, it is trying to crush Quintez Brown and destroy his life.”
Brown shot at Craig Greenberg and his campaign staff at their Louisville office in February. As previously reported by theGrio, Brown, 21, faces one count of criminal attempted murder and four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment under the indictment, which was returned late last month.
The shooting occurred on Feb. 14. Brown allegedly went to Craig Greenberg’s campaign headquarters and began firing at the Democratic mayoral hopeful and his staffers, who managed to close the door and hide under desks. Brown was apprehended less than a half-mile from the office carrying a loaded 9mm magazine in his pocket. He was also in possession of a handgun, a case and additional magazines, per previous theGrio reporting.
Eggert has long maintained that the young activist has mental health issues. He’s calling on Brown’s supporters to protest outside the federal courthouse at 1 p.m. today.
Two days after the shooting, Brown was released from jail after the Louisville Community Bail Fund posted a $100,000 bail. The local group raises money to free defendants in criminal cases and connect them with pretrial support resources.
He was on home incarceration before being picked up Wednesday night by federal agents and brought to the Grayson County Detention Center. According to Eggert, he was dragged from his grandmother’s home dressed in pajamas as a helicopter circled overhead.
The federal case is sealed, but prosecutors disclosed to The Courier-Journal that they would ask that Brown be remanded to prison because he is facing life in prison.
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