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

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man who shot at Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg when he was a candidate in 2022 was sentenced Friday to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison after a tense sentencing hearing where Greenberg spoke of the harm 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 staffers were in the room with Greenberg, and one of them rushed to close the door on Brown after he fired.

Greenberg, who was elected mayor later that year, said in court Friday that he saw a man he didn’t recognize come to the door of his campaign headquarters, and when a staffer tried to engage the man in conversation, “I saw a gun pointed directly at me and I’ll never forget the sound of those gun shots fired,” Greenberg told the court. Greenberg said in the ensuing days, 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 relation 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 be on supervised release for five years after he is out of prison.

Brown, a former standout 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 shot that gun, I taught everybody a 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 tell those who were in the room that I'm sorry. I can't believe I caused all this.”

After the shooting, Brown was charged with attempted murder but was bailed out of jail a few days later by a nonprofit bail fund group, outraging Greenberg and other city leaders. At the time, Greenberg said it was “nearly impossible to believe that someone can attempt murder on Monday and walk out of jail on Wednesday.”

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

So Brown bought another gun from 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.

Defense attorneys for Brown pleaded for a lighter sentence, arguing that the shooting was aberrant behavior from a person suffering a mental illness episode who had not 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 proceeded, but they are not expected to add to the length of Brown's sentence.