LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — A man accused of shooting of current mayor of Louisville when he was running for office in 2022, he pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges related to the attack.
Quintez Brown pleaded guilty to interfering with a federally protected activity and discharging a firearm during a violent crime. The courthouse was a short drive from where the attack occurred in early 2022. Brown was arrested by Louisville police shortly after the shooting.
Under the plea agreement, federal prosecutors were seeking a sentence of 15 to 18 years. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton set the sentence Oct. 21.
Brown answered “yes, sir” to a series of procedural questions put to him by the judge.
Craig Greenberg, then a mayoral candidate, was not hit by the gunfire, but a bullet grazed his jersey. The Democrat was elected mayor of Kentucky’s largest city later that year.
After the hearing, Greenberg said he respects the justice system and accepts the plea agreement.
“I am relieved that the other victims and our families will not have to relive that horrible experience during a trial,” he said in a statement.
According to authorities, Greenberg was with four associates at his campaign headquarters in downtown Louisville in February 2022 when a man appeared in the doorway and began firing multiple shots. An aide was able to close the door, which they barricaded with tables and desks, and the gunman fled.
Brown, a social justice activist and former newspaper intern, ran for Louisville City Council as an independent.
A doctor hired by the defense to examine Brown concluded earlier this year that Brown “has a serious mental illness, with a severe mood disorder and psychosis,” court documents said.
He was also charged in state court with attempted murder and malicious seizure.