Credit: Facebook/TikTok
A Bristol Borough man with a criminal history can add another one onto his record.
Kevin G. Brannigan, 64, reached a negotiated plea Thursday for possession of a firearm while prohibited in connection with a 2020 incident that quickly spread across social media. Bucks County Judge Raymond McHugh accepted the plea and sentenced Brannigan to six months of probation.
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Brannigan, a former Bristol Borough code enforcement officer, was charged in November 2020 after an investigation by county detectives.
Borough police were dispatched in late July 2020 for a reported verbal dispute between two groups of men in the area of the Klean Kars by Kevin detailing shop on Old Route 13 near Mill Street.
The incident, which was recorded and turned over to investigators, “clearly showed that Kevin G. Brannigan was holding in his hands a shotgun-style firearm” while outside the business during the argument. The firearm, a functioning Winchester shotgun, was located inside the business a few days later, authorities said in charging documents.
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A conviction stemming from a Bucks County Detectives’ investigation in 2004 bars Brannigan from possessing a firearm.
County court papers stated Brannigan plead guilty in 2004 to prohibited offensive weapon and conspiracy. He was sentenced to two years of probation.
Credit: Bucks County Detectives
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A video that showed the July incident appeared on Facebook last summer. It shows a younger man yelling “f**k Black Lives Matter, f**k George Floyd,” while the older man holds what appears to be a firearm.
Brannigan has long been a lightning rod in the borough over his work for the municipality and due to a pickup truck that has been parked to block the sidewalk outside of the business.
Lou Busico, the attorney who represented Brannigan, said his client feared for his life.
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“At the moment Kevin picked up that firearm, he truly believed his life and the life of his family was in immediate danger. He did the wrong thing for the right reason. It’s always easy for people to be there Monday morning quarterback,” he said.
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