A 23-year-old Army veteran is wanted for injuring a former Kentucky state representative and killing his daughter when he allegedly broke into their $6.5 million estate this week.
Police are still looking for Shannon V. Gilday of Taylor Mill, who they say broke into former state representative Wesley Morgan’s house outside of Richmond Tuesday, brandishing a rifle. Officials say he injured Morgan in a shootout and shot and killed his daughter, 32-year-old Jordan Morgan, in her bed.
Police do not believe there was a relationship between Gilday and the Morgans and have declined to give a motive, according to the Northern Kentucky Tribune. But in a statement Friday, Gilday’s mother, Katie Gilday, said her son had “not been of sound mind” in recent weeks, and was “distraught with the certainty a nuclear war is imminent.”
“He spoke of building a bunker and the CIA following him. I tried to get him psychiatric help but to no avail,” she wrote. “I plead to Shannon to turn himself in so that he can get the help he so desperately needs.”
The Morgan family happens to own a bunker on their 200-acre estate, according to an online real estate listing. The Zillow listing describes the property as having a $3 million, 2,000 square foot “Nuclear/Biological/Chemical Fallout Shelter,” complete with 21,000-gallon underground propane tanks, an 8,000-gallon pressurized water tank, three generators, geothermal heat and air, and foam-insulated walls. The entire structure is buried 26 feet underground.
“This is reported to be the most secure home on the market in this country,” the listing reads. “It is built to withstand a Seismic 12 earthquake, has 3 air filtrations from Switzerland, and 2 escape tunnels, one is approximately 100 yards long.”
In an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader last year, Morgan said he started building the bunker following the 2008 election of Barack Obama, who he claimed was “trying to change our country into a socialist country.”
“I just wanted someplace safe,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of bad stuff going on in the world right now. If we don’t get our act together, we’re gonna end up in a civil war.”
Morgan is a liquor store owner who served in the Kentucky House from 2017 to 2019, and was known for sponsoring multiple bills that would have made business easier for—who else—people who own liquor stores, according to the Herald-Leader. He was unseated by a fellow Republican in 2018 and unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in a Senate primary in 2020.
His daughter, Jordan, previously served as deputy press secretary for former Gov. Matt Bevin. She had started work at a local law firm a week before her death.
“While Ms. Morgan was employed at Reminger for only one week, we knew her as a pleasant colleague with a promising future as an attorney,” the law firm said in a statement. “We are shocked and saddened at the circumstances surrounding her unfortunate death.”
Authories have issued a warrant for Gildray arrest on charges of murder, burglary, criminal mischief, assault and two counts of attempted murder.
The 23-year-old, who stands 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 167 pounds, served in the army from August 2018 to October 2019, U.S. Army spokesperson Heather J. Hagan told local news station WYKT. Police said he was last seen on surveillance footage at the Morgan’s property wearing a camouflage jacket and pants, a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, gloves and a face mask. Officers suspected he had camping materials in his car—a white 2016 Toyota Corolla—and asked campers in the area to be on the lookout.
“It doesn’t appear [this] was necessarily just a burglary,” Sgt. Robert Purdy, a spokesman for the Kentucky state police, told the Louisville Courier Journal. “There was a criminal action and a violent intent, we believe.”
“We need the public’s assistance in locating him,” he added.