PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (Scripps News West Palm Beach) — A 44-year-old man accused of violently attacking and killing his father Sunday night was deemed by a longtime family friend as a “delusional conspiracy theorist,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
Brian McGann Jr. was arrested after Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies found him with “blood all over his body” after he attempted to hide from law enforcement.
This Feb. 5, 2024 booking photo provided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office shows Brian McGann Jr., accused of murdering his father. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies said they went to the home after receiving a 911 call reporting a violent domestic disturbance just after 11 p.m..
The 911 caller, a family friend, said McGann Jr. called her and during the conversation she overheard the man’s father, Brian McGann Sr., uttering, “Stop, you are killing me.”
The friend reported to 911 that McGann Jr. appeared intoxicated and paranoid, also stating that he recently began using cocaine.
Deputies responded to McGann Sr.’s home and found him lying unresponsive on the living room floor with his clothes “completely covered in blood” with significant injuries to his face.
The probable cause affidavit said there was “blood all over the living room floor, spatter on the wall and furniture encompassing Brian McGann Sr.’s body.”
Paramedics responded to the home and pronounced the victim dead at 12:25 a.m. Monday. The Palm Beach Medical Examiner’s Office determined that McGann Sr. died from blunt force trauma.
Detectives later spoke to the family friend who said she had talked to McGann Jr. earlier on Sunday, conversing on the phone for about three hours.
The woman said McGann Jr. called her again at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday and told her to pack her belongings and leave the residence because “he was going to be dead.”
The friend said she found this request troubling and strange since she currently lives in Middleburg, Florida, which is near Jacksonville and about 300 miles from Palm Beach County. The woman told detectives that the suspect continued to inexplicably say that he was being chased by law enforcement but then recanted that wasn’t true.
Just after 11 p.m., the friend said that McGann Jr. told her he was leaving a Wellington bar and pulling into his father’s residence.
A short time later the woman said that she overheard McGann Jr. aggressively screaming and violently attacking McGann Sr. and stating that his father was “under my foot.”
She said that’s when she called 911, and also told detectives that McGann Jr. was upset because “he recently learned his father received the vaccine.”
While canvassing the neighborhood, deputies located the suspect’s truck parked in front of a home that was about a three-minute drive from where the attack occurred.
They said they spotted McGann Jr. jump a back gate and into a neighbor’s yard in an attempt to elude law enforcement.
When investigators found him, they said he was also “completely covered in blood” on his hands, feet, face and clothing.
McGann Jr. faces a charge of first-degree murder and is being held without bond at the main Palm Beach County jail.
This story was originally published by Scripps News West Palm Beach, an E.W. Scripps Company.
