LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The day after a retired reserve deputy in the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed in Middletown, his son was charged with his murder.
Brandon McQuillen, 43, was charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and violating an emergency protective order Thursday.
And in Brandon McQuillen’s initial court appearance Thursday, a judge said he’s charged in connection to a homicide at 7:21 a.m. Wednesday and confirmed John McQuillen is his father. Louisville Metro Police didn’t confirm that the homicide charge was for the murder of his father until 11:33 p.m. Thursday.
In Brandon McQuillen’s arrest citation, police located him late Wednesday night in connection to a homicide investigation and found him in possession Wednesday of an AR-15 rifle. The only known homicide in Jefferson County on Wednesday morning was John McQuillen’s death.
According to court documents, John McQuillen took out an EPO against Brandon McQuillen in 2018, and Brandon McQuillen took out an EPO against John McQuillen in 2024.
That case stemmed from an incident in which police said Brandon McQuillen placed a chain around a woman’s neck and padlocked her to the ceiling. He then tased her several times in the stomach and beat her in the side with a pool cue. Police said he also punched her in the face several times.
The woman begged him to let her go, according to police, but Brandon McQuillen refused, leaving her there for 12 hours. His former roommate eventually called police, and Brandon McQuillen fled the scene.
On Wednesday, 65-year-old John McQuillen was shot in Middletown and died later at the hospital. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that he was a reserve deputy who served the agency for more than 10 years until his retirement in July 2021. A judge entered a not guilty plea for Brandon McQuillen’s new charges Thursday and placed a $10,000 cash bond and that he can’t have any use or possession of a firearm and other weapons.
His next hearing is scheduled for March 21.
The Louisville Metro Police Department is leading the investigation into John McQuillen’s death, and ATF and Middletown police are assisting in the case. Police have not said at this time if Brandon McQuillen is a suspect in the shooting. Neighbors described John McQuillen as a nice, quiet man who moved in about seven months ago.
“A lot of people thought he was a nice man,” said Lonnie Thurman, the president of the neighborhood association. “Not understanding how something like this, you know, could happen.” WDRB crews were back on scene Thursday morning.
They noticed a bullet hole in one car near the scene of the shooting.
Neighbors also said the suspicious package that was detonated, happened under John’s car. The bottom side of the driver’s side appeared damaged. Some of those who woke up to the devastation Wednesday morning said they were scared.
“I was scared to death, honestly, because my husband wasn’t home,” said Wendy Wilburn, who witnessed Brandon’s arrest. “He was very frantic for me. Just knowing that there was nothing he could do, to come on the block.”
Wilburn shared a photo of a vehicle between two homes. “They broke a window on the back of the vehicle and shot smoke bombs inside of the window, and a few minutes later, a fella (came) out of the window through the smoke,” she said.
Wilburn said police searched Brandon right outside her home.
The post Louisville man arrested Wednesday now charged with murder of his father in Middletown first appeared on Voxtrend News.
