BLM Activist Charged With Attempted Murder of Kentucky Democrat Mayoral Hopeful

BLM activist Quintez Brown was named as a "rising face" by Barack Obama's foundation in 2019 and had previously campaigned against gun violence and for stricter firearms laws. Now he stands accused of attempting to shoot dead a liberal politician.

A prominent young Black Lives Matter activist has been charged with the attempted murder of a Democrat mayoral candidate in the Kentucky city where he was seeking election himself.

Quintez Brown was arrested in Louisville on Monday carrying a handgun, following a shooting attack at Craig Greenberg's campaign headquarters.

Brown, a 21-year-old student at the University of Louisville, was also charged with four counts of wanton endangerment. He pled not guilty at a hearing on Tuesday and had bail set at $100,000, Louisville police spokesperson Aaron Ellis said.

"There are serious mental issues at play here," said Brown's attorney Rob Eggert in court, adding that he would arrange a psychiatric evaluation for his client who briefly went missing last year.

Brown, who is a former intern and editorial columnist for local newspaper The Courier Journal, was standing as an independent candidate for election to the Louisville council in District 5 of the city.

Greenberg said on Monday he had been at his HQ with four of his staff when a man appeared in the doorway, drew a handgun and began firing at them.

"We asked if we could help him. And he pulled out a gun, aimed it directly at me and opened fire," Greenberg told CNN. "I was fortunate that one of my brave teammates slammed the door shut. They were able to throw some desks on top of the door and the suspect fled."

"Despite one bullet coming so close that it grazed my sweater and my shirt, no one was physically harmed," Greenberg stressed.

Brown was arrested half a mile away shortly after the attack, carrying a drawstring bag containing a 9mm pistol and several magazines, with another loaded magazine in his pocket.

"We have no known motive at this time," police chief Erika Shields said on Monday, adding: "We also have no reason to believe at this time that this individual was acting anything but alone."

But some media outlets tried to imply a connection between BLM's support for Palestinian national rights and Greenberg's Jewish heritage.

From Gun Control to Gun Crime

Brown had recently re-tweeted a post critical of Democrats' policies towards Black people, with a video of current US President Joe Biden referring to young criminals as "predators".

We are re-entering the zeitgeist (environment) of a pro-police & high crime narrative that allowed Biden, Clinton, the other Dems & Republicans to pass the 1994 crime bill, w/ the support of 2/3 of the Black Congressional Congress. No more mass incarceration. pic.twitter.com/dMFSBcIXSP

— Kamau Franklin (@kamaufranklin) February 10, 2022

Ironically, the activist wrote an editorial in July 2019 criticising Kentucky's permissive firearms laws — as satirical Twitter account Defiant L's pointed out just before it was suspended by the social media site.

Tweet of headlines about Black Lives Matter activist and Louisville council candidate Quintez Brown

© Defiant L's/Twitter

More recently he tweeted: "Gun violence reveals the interconnected nature of our reality. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Especially in our segregated conditions."

"If there's any good to come out of this, I hope it's that not only will I be a more effective mayor, but that I'll be someone who can bring the city together to unify around implementing solutions to end gun violence," Greenberg told a reporter on Tuesday.

Local Democrat Charles Booker, who is standing for the US Senate in November's mid-term elections, said he had known Brown since the activist was a student. "The young man I knew then was working to end violence in our city, not carry it out" when they last met in the summer of 2020, Booker said, adding that his heart was broken for Greenberg, his family and staff.

Brown had been named by former president Barack Obama's foundation in 2019 as a "rising face". In June 2020 he was a guest on an edition of BBC Sounds podcast The Next Episode, discussing the BLM movement.