Louisville mayor candidate says his family is ‘traumatized again’ after campaign HQ shooting suspect is released on bond

By Devan Cole and Paradise Afshar, CNN

The mayoral candidate in Louisville, Kentucky, who survived a shooting at his campaign headquarters earlier this week said Thursday that his family and campaign team are “traumatized again” after the suspected shooter was released from jail on bond.

“Our criminal justice system is clearly broken. It is nearly impossible to believe that someone can attempt murder on Monday and walk out of jail on Wednesday,” Craig Greenberg said in a statement.

“Sadly, like others who suffer from a broken system, my team and family have been traumatized again by this news,” he added.

Greenberg, a Democrat, was the target of the Monday morning shooting at his campaign headquarters, local authorities said. The shooting did not result in any injuries, although a round did appear to strike Greenberg’s clothing, according to officials. Quintez Brown, who has been charged in connection with the shooting, was released from jail on bond on Wednesday, his attorney Rob Eggert told CNN.

Brown, 21, has been charged with attempted murder and four counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree in connection with the shooting. He pleaded not guilty during a court appearance Tuesday. The court issued a no-contact order, barring him from going to the location of the incident and contacting Greenberg or anyone associated with his campaign. A no-firearm order was also issued.

​In a series of tweets on Thursday, Black Lives Matter Louisville said it, along with the Louisville Community Bail Fund, had posted the $100,000 bond for Brown. He is now with family, Eggert told CNN.

​Louisville mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement that Brown would be subject to home checks and a GPS monitoring device, according to a statement obtained by CNN affiliate WLKY.

Louisville police declined to comment when asked Thursday about a possible motive behind the shooting.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting Louisville Metro Police in investigating the incident, spokespeople for the agencies told CNN earlier this week.

Greenberg said Thursday that he trusts police “to carry out this investigation properly so that the individual responsible for trying to kill me will be prosecuted appropriately.”

“Regardless of what leads someone to commit a violent crime, there must be consequences. Gun violence is unacceptable under any circumstances for any reason anywhere,” he added.

Brown is a student at the University of Louisville, John R. Karman III, a spokesperson for the school, told CNN. According to a school website, Brown is a member of the Class of 2022’s Martin Luther King Scholars Program with an area of interest in poverty.

The Louisville Courier Journal identified Brown as a former intern and editorial columnist with the newspaper. Brown wrote several columns focusing on “race, youth opinion and social justice,” his biography says.

A local Louisville activist, Brown had ties to The Obama Foundation and at least one political campaign, according to online sources.

According to an archived version of The Obama Foundation website, Brown was featured as a member of “My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.” MBKA “focuses on building safe and supportive communities for boys and young men of color where they feel valued and have clear pathways to opportunity,” the website says.

The post featuring Brown has been removed, but an archived version says that he is working to better his community and change “the narrative around violence, masculinity, and professionalism.”

“I refuse to succumb to the stereotypes that imprison us to a single story; instead I show young men of color that we can be whoever we want to be. I show young men of color that we too can be excellent and there’s unlimited power in being yourself,” his MBKA profile said.

CNN has reached out to the Obama Foundation but has not heard back.

In the summer of 2021, Brown went missing, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department. Family members told CNN affiliate WAVE that he could have been having mental health issues. “He may be having a breakdown, we don’t know,” Brown’s step-mother, Stephanie Daugherty, said. He was eventually found safe, LMPD said.

Brown’s attorney said during Tuesday’s court appearance that his client will be undergoing a mental health evaluation, saying he believes “there are serious mental issues at play here.”

At the time of his disappearance, then-state lawmaker Charles Booker tweeted that Brown had spoken at an event in 2019 as Booker announced his run for Senate.

Earlier this week, Booker released a statement on Twitter saying he had last seen Brown in 2020, adding, “The young man I knew then was working to end violence in our city, not carry it out.”

“The fact that he has now been charged with such violent acts is absolutely crushing,” Booker said. “We don’t know what his experience was or has been; the facts of this incident are still under investigation.”

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CNN’s Amanda Watts contributed to this report.