Sandy MaloneBy Sandy Malone and Holly Matkin
Wichita Falls, TX – A Black Lives Matter-backed group has pledged to pay the $100,000 cash bail to free the man who tried to assassinate a candidate for Louisville mayor on Monday.
The attack occurred at the campaign office of Louisville Democratic Mayoral Candidate Craig Greenberg in the Butchertown Market building at approximately 10:15 a.m. on Feb. 14.
Greenberg told reporters afterward that he and four members of his staff were in the middle of a meeting when the suspect, 25-year-old Quintez Brown, barged in, the Courier Journal reported.
He said the suspect suddenly, “pulled out a gun, aimed directly at me and began shooting.”
Greenberg said told reporters at a press conference that at least one round grazed his shirt, according to the Courier Journal.
One of the staff members was able to slam the door on the attacker just before the rest of the group barricaded the door with desks and tables.
Louisville police said they responded to the scene after receiving a report of “an active aggressor,” the Courier Journal reported.
Police announced Monday night that they had arrested Brown in connection with the attack.
Brown, a 21-year-old former intern for The Courier Journal, has been charged with four counts of wanton endangerment and attempted murder.
He was taken into custody outside Greenberg’s campaign office, WDRB reported.
Brown has been charged with attempted murder and four counts of wanton endangerment for the shooting at Greenberg’s campaign office.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment on Tuesday, WFPL reported.
Brown has been active with Black Lives Matter Louisville and spoke to WDRB in 2020 about protesting police.
The Louisville Community Bail Fund, an organization that was co-founded by Black Lives Matter Louisville organizer Chanelle Helm, announced that her group would put up the $100,000 cash bond that was set by District Judge Annette Karem during Brown’s arraignment on Feb. 15, WFPL reported.
Brown would be moved to home incarceration if he posted bond.
Attorneys for Brown have claimed that he suffered from mental issues and should not be incarcerated in the downtown Louisville jail, which has recently been the subject of multiple investigations, WFPL reported.
The Black Lives Matter organizer said it didn’t think the facility had the services that Brown needed.
“[The Louisville Metro Department of Corrections] has seen its sixth death in the last four months and they have not provided adequate resources for those underneath its detention,” Helm said. “We’re extremely concerned for anyone being held there, especially someone like Quintez [Brown] who is having mental health concerns from his family and community members.”
Rob Eggert, Brown’s defense attorney, said he planned to have his client undergo a mental health evaluation as soon as possible, WFPL reported.
Greenberg, who said his ears were still ringing a day after he was shot at, told WAVE that he had empathy for the man who tried to gun down him and his staff on Valentine’s Day.
“I don’t know what led the individual yesterday to shoot – part of me has empathy because my guess is that his experiences were very different from my experiences – and so I am empathic and concerned about that, that there people in our community that ultimately pick up a gun and use it in that fashion,” Greenberg said.
“Yesterday somebody opened fire at me in my office with my teammates,” he continued. “There is no excuse for that, and firing a weapon at someone else has consequences, has to have consequences. We need to do everything in our city’s collective power to work so that no one else decides to use a weapon in that manner. That should be our goal.”
The Police Tribune reached out to Greenberg’s campaign for comment on Brown’s impending release but had not received a response at publication time.
No official word has been released on when the would-be assassin would be bailed out, WAVE reported.
Holly Matkin
