A 43-year-old Kentucky man allegedly planted a bomb under his father’s car before shooting him dead.
Brandon Thomas McQuillen is charged with murder in the death of his father, 65-year-old John Thomas McQuillen, who worked as a reserve deputy for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Louisville for ten years, according to jail records.
According to a press release from the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, officers in Middletown responded to the 1200 block of Winter Springs around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday and discovered a man shot.
Paramedics rushed the man to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. While on scene, officers discovered a “suspicious package.”
The LMPD’s bomb squad responded to the scene and detonated the package in question. Cops also found an old ambulance that they believe the suspect used in the murder.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by local Fox affiliate WDRB, police discovered the bomb under the elder McQuillen’s vehicle. Police reportedly discovered an AR-15 rifle, as well as “multiple items consistent with manufacturing explosives,” in Brandon McQuillen’s vehicle and home.
In addition, there were several handwritten notes that revealed he was “intent on killing his father.”
Two workers installing fences saw cops arrest the younger McQuillen in a former ambulance truck less than two miles from the murder scene, according to local ABC affiliate WHAS.
The workers said they noticed the vehicle, and a man got out and asked if he was in the way, explaining that he was having engine problems.
“The part that stands out the most is that he was parked in here and if anybody is in that state of mind, what could he do to a stranger?” Greg Whitaker, the worker, wondered.
Wendy Wilburn, a neighbor, told WDRB that she saw cops take the suspect into custody.
“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 told the station’s television crew.
According to the affidavit, the father and son had previously sought emergency protection orders against each other in recent years.
Brandon McQuillen was previously convicted of kidnapping and other charges after chaining his ex-girlfriend to a home’s ceiling for 12 hours, according to WDRB. During that time, he repeatedly Tased her, punched her, and beat her with a pool cue. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
In addition to the murder charge for his father’s death, he faces felon in possession of a firearm and violating an emergency protection order. He is in the Jefferson County Jail on a $1 million bond.
