Kentucky man sentenced to 17 years for shooting 2022 Louisville mayoral candidate

LOUISVILLE: A Kentucky man who shot Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg while he was a 2022 candidate was sentenced Friday to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison after a tense sentencing hearing where Greenberg spoke of the damage the attack has caused.

Quintez Brown was arrested shortly after leaving Greenberg’s campaign office, where one of his six shots grazed Greenberg’s sweater. Four other employees were in the room with Greenberg, and one of them rushed to close the door on Brown after he fired the shot.

Greenberg, who was elected mayor later that year, said in court Friday that he saw a man he did not recognize arrive at the door of his campaign headquarters, and when an employee tried to engage the man in conversation, “I saw a Gun pointed right at me and I will never forget the sound of those gun shots,” Greenberg told the court in the days that followed that he felt “fear and confusion that made me physically numb for days.”

Brown, 24, pleaded guilty in July to federal charges of interfering with a federally protected activity and discharging a firearm in connection with a crime of violence. The plea agreement called for a sentencing range of 15 to nearly 18 years.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton said Brown’s attack was premeditated and was a threat to the community’s political system. He ordered Brown to supervised release for five years after being out of prison.

Brown, a former honor student and Louisville newspaper columnist who was running for City Council at the time, apologized to Greenberg and his staff who were present at the Feb. 14, 2022, shooting.

“When I fired that gun, I taught everyone the wrong lesson,” he said, looking in the direction of Greenberg, who was sitting in the front row of the gallery with his wife. “I want to say to those who were in the room that I am sorry. I can’t believe I caused all this.”

After the shooting, Brown was charged with attempted murder, but a nonprofit bail fund group was bailed out of jail a few days later. At the time, Greenberg said it was “almost impossible to believe that someone can try to murder on Monday and get out of jail on Wednesday.”

Federal officials investigated the case, and in April of that year they unsealed an indictment charging Brown. Federal prosecutors said Brown searched the Internet for Greenberg’s campaign headquarters, along with searches for his family, according to a sentencing memo from federal prosecutors. Brown bought a gun and even went to Greenberg’s house the night before the shooting, but prosecutors believe he had a gun jamming problem.

So Brown bought another gun at a pawn shop the next day and traveled to Greenberg’s campaign office, where he fired multiple shots at Greenberg, who was sitting at a desk, according to prosecutors.

Brown’s defense attorneys pleaded for a lighter sentence, arguing that the shooting was aberrant behavior by a person suffering from an episode of mental illness who had no prior criminal record.

Brown still faces charges in State Court of attempted murder and wanton endangerment. Those cases have been on hold while the federal case continued, but they are not expected to increase the length of Brown’s sentence.