Berea bank shooting suspect indicted on murder charges, AG will seek death penalty
– 3 min read
Brailen Weaver now faces capital murder charges in state court, months after the deadly shooting left two U.S. Bank employees dead.
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Nearly three months after two U.S. Bank employees were shot and killed in Berea, a Madison County Grand Jury has handed down an indictment against the man accused of pulling the trigger.
Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Wednesday that 19-year-old Brailen Weaver has been indicted on two counts of Murder as a Capital Offense, along with one count of Fleeing and Evading, a Class C felony. Coleman says his office will pursue the death penalty, citing what the indictment calls the "heinous nature" of the crime and the loss of life.
The victims were Breanna Edwards, 35, a teller who had been married for almost a year, and Brian Switzer, 42, a bank manager, husband, and father of three. Both were killed on April 30, when Weaver allegedly opened fire inside the bank before fleeing the scene. He was taken into custody later that night after a car chase, with a firearm recovered from the vehicle he was driving.
According to a GoFundMe created to benefit Switzer's family, he leaves behind a wife and their three children. The fundraiser goes on to say, "Brian worked as the sole provider for his family, and Rachel stayed at home to care for their children. Rachel will have to navigate the grief of her three children as well as her own for the foreseeable future."
On Facebook, Edwards husband Sam wrote this, "Breanna loved having her camera in her hand. She radiated light and joy, and was thrilled at every opportunity she had to use her art to help people see the beauty she saw in them. My wife was delightfully obsessive with her dedication to her clients, almost always walking through the front door after a shift and immediately working on finding “sneak peaks” to provide immediately, and then staying up far too late to edit the rest. I am so proud of her, and I hope that everyone that was on the opposite end of her camera can see the love she put into every picture."
What comes next
Weaver has been facing federal charges since shortly after the shooting, and this state indictment now runs alongside that case. The Attorney General's Office has been clear that the two tracks are separate, even as state and federal prosecutors coordinate their work.
The Kentucky State Police led the investigation.
Because of Kentucky Supreme Court rules limiting what can be said publicly ahead of trial, the AG's office says there's a limit to how much more detail it can share right now.
Accused shooter’s social media helped crack the case- what we know about the fatal KY bank robbery
After a night that stretched law enforcement across Central Kentucky, Brailen Weaver is behind bars- and expected to face a federal judge Monday. “I’m Shay McAlister, and this is Shay Informed: an independent, ad-free platform dedicated to honest journalism with compassion and clarity. Are you new here? Sign
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