Quintez Brown, a prominent 21-year-old civil rights activist, has been arrested in the attempted shooting of Louisville mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg.
Brown, a former Courier Journal columnist who had announced he was running for Metro Council in 2022, is charged with attempted murder and four charges of wanton endangerment in the first degree. Brown, who has also written for LEO, had bond set at $100,000 at an arraignment on Tuesday.
Democratic mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg survived an apparent assassination attempt on Monday morning when he said a man walked into his Butchertown campaign office, aimed directly at him and opened fire. In a press conference on Monday afternoon, Greenberg said a member of his staff was able to slam the door shut as the gunman opened fire. Staff then barricaded the doorway. Greenberg and the four members of his staff present in the office were uninjured, but Greenberg said a bullet hit his sweater and shirt.
Greenberg, the former CEO of 21c Museum Hotels, has had his campaign endorsed by influential Metro Council Democrats and has led mayoral candidates in fundraising efforts by a vast margin.
In a statement on Monday, the Louisville Metro Police Department said officers responded to “reports of an active aggressor” in the 1200 block of Story Avenue at around 10:15 a.m. Greenberg’s campaign office is located at 1201 Story Avenue, the same building that houses Butchertown Market.
According to Brown’s arrest citation, at approximately 10:25 a.m. LMPD officers located a suspect matching the description of a person who fired “several” shots at Greenberg. Brown was arrested on Quincy Street “less than half a mile” from Greenberg’s Butchertown office, the citation said.
In the citation, police said Brown had “a loaded 9mm magazine in his pants pocket” and was carrying a drawstring bag that contained a 9mm handgun, a handgun case and additional magazines. Police said Brown’s clothing and bag matched what was seen in surveillance footage from the building where Greenberg’s office is located.
In a statement on Monday, LMPD said they believed that the suspect they had detained acted alone.
Brown is a well known activist in Louisville, where he was a prominent voice in the 2020 racial justice protests. He was quoted in local and national publications. He also spoke at the launch of Charles Booker’s 2020 campaign for U.S. Senate. He is a senior at UofL, where he has a full scholarship as a Martin Luther King Scholar. He was an intern and columnist at the Courier Journal.
As a Courier Journal columnist, Brown’s articles included topics such as what life was like as a young Black man in Louisville in the aftermath of the police killing of Breonna Taylor, the “Ninth Street divide” between Louisville’s east and west and his opposition to Kentucky’s 2019 law that allowed gun owners to carry concealed firearms without a permit.
He also wrote one piece for LEO Weekly in February 2020, an opinion article about what he perceived to be UofL’s inclusivity failures.
In December, he announced that he was running for Metro Council in District 5, which covers much of the city’s predominantly Black West End.
In an arraignment Tuesday morning, Brown’s attorney Rob Eggert mentioned some of Brown’s accolades, but said he believed there were “serious mental issues at play here” and said he will have his client evaluated “immediately.”
Brown went missing on June 19 of last year, causing widespread concern for his safety. While he was missing, Louisville Urban League CEO Sadiqa Reynolds said Brown’s family believed he may be going through a “mental health crisis.” A little less than two weeks after he went missing, police and Brown’s family said he had been found. It appeared that Brown had been located in New York City.
Eggert entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of his client. Brown’s next court date is Feb. 23.
No motive has been identified by LMPD nor Greenberg.
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