On the morning of March 12, 2025, Middletown police responding to reports of a shooting found 65-year-old John Thomas McQuillen wounded on Winter Springs Court. McQuillen, a retired reserve deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office who had lived about seven months in the Swan Pointe condominium complex, was transported to the hospital and died of a single gunshot wound.

Investigators quickly focused on his son, 43-year-old Brandon Thomas McQuillen. The next day Brandon was charged with his father’s murder; authorities say a suspicious package at the scene was an explosive device placed under John McQuillen’s vehicle and was detonated by the bomb squad. A search of Brandon’s home and vehicle reportedly turned up an AR-15 style rifle, explosive-making materials, and handwritten notes expressing intent to kill his father. Court records show a troubled relationship, mutual emergency protective orders, and Brandon’s prior criminal history, including a kidnapping conviction.

Brandon McQuillen was arrested in an old ambulance less than two miles from the scene, indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on murder and related charges, pleaded not guilty, and was held on $1 million bond. Does anyone in Middletown have information about the McQuillen family or the days leading up to March 12?