A sober reminder that political violence is becoming more and more common, as Louisville Democratic mayoral primary candidate Craig Greenberg was targeted by a racial justice activist yesterday morning in a clear assassination attempt that failed.
A Louisville activist has been identified as a suspect in Monday's attempted shooting of mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg.
Quintez Brown, 21, was charged with attempted murder and four counts of wanton endangerment after Greenberg was shot at in his campaign headquarters Monday morning in Butchertown, LMPD spokeswoman Elizabeth Ruoff said late Monday.
Brown, a civil rights activist, is a former intern and editorial columnist for The Courier Journal.
A police report says a man later identified as Brown entered the building and fired a 9mm Glock handgun at Greenberg before fleeing the building.
Greenberg was not injured, but one of the bullets struck his clothing, Chief Erika Shields said earlier Monday. Police evacuated Greenberg, a Democrat, and his staff from the building and eventually took a person into custody, she said.
Officers found a man matching the suspect description less than a half-mile from the campaign headquarters about 10 minutes later, carrying a loaded 9mm magazine in his pants pocket, according to the arrest report.
He also had a drawstring bag with a handgun, handgun case and additional magazines, the report said.
Surveillance video from the building showed the suspect wearing clothes matching Brown's and carrying a matching bag, the report said.
Craig Greenberg shooting:Mayoral candidate describes shooting at campaign office, 'shaken but safe'
Brown had been a University of Louisville student and an opinion editor for the Cardinal, the student newspaper. He was involved in the racial justice protests of 2020.
He disappeared last summer but was found safe July 1 after being missing about two weeks.
In a statement after he was found, his family said: "We are asking for privacy and would appreciate everyone's patience and support while we tend to the most immediate need, which is Quintez's physical, mental and spiritual needs.”
Brown was an MLK Scholar at U of L and is the founder of From Fields to Arena, a group committed to providing political education and violence prevention training to youths engaged in hip-hop and athletics.
After he went missing, family and friends formed several search parties, distributed flyers and met at locations around the city to look for him.
He recently announced he would run for Metro Council in District 5.
The full story has yet to come out, but I can't think of anything worse right now for already strained race relations in Louisville after Breonna Taylor than Brown's alleged attack being successful.
It's also a hard reminder than not all political violence comes from the right. I don't know what hell Brown is going through that would prompt him to try to kill Greenberg specifically, but the consequences will be far-reaching here in Kentucky.
Black Lives Still Matter.
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