A Florida man will spend nearly four decades in prison after beating his own father to death — triggered by his paranoid rage over the older man getting a vaccine.
Brian McGann Jr. pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the brutal February 2024 killing of his father, Brian McGann Sr., in a suburban Lake Worth home.
A Palm Beach County judge sentenced him to 38 years in state prison.
A Phone Call That Turned Deadly
The night of the attack, a family friend was on the phone with McGann Jr. throughout the evening.
She noticed he was becoming increasingly paranoid, frantic, and intoxicated.
At one point, he told her to pack her bags — saying “he was going to be dead.”
She thought it was bizarre. She lived hours away.
“He Is Under My Foot”
During a final phone call, the friend heard McGann Jr. screaming and physically attacking his father.
Then she heard the victim cry out — “Stop, you are killing me.”
When she asked about the father, McGann Jr. coldly replied: “He is under my foot.”
She immediately called 911.
Police Arrive — Son Found Fleeing
Deputies rushed to the home and spotted McGann Jr. trying to scale a fence into a neighbor’s backyard.
When found, he was completely covered in blood — from his face to his feet. His hands were swollen and badly cut.
Inside the home, they found his father lying unresponsive on the living room floor. Blood covered his clothing, his face, the walls, and the furniture.
Paramedics pronounced Brian McGann Sr. dead at the scene.
The cause of death: blunt force trauma.
What Set Him Off?
Court documents describe McGann Jr. as a “delusional conspiracy theorist” who had recently begun using cocaine.
He was deeply enraged after learning his father had received a vaccine — though it remains unclear which vaccine was involved.
The Sentence
McGann Jr. originally faced first-degree murder charges. He took a plea deal to avoid trial.
The judge sentenced him to 38 years, giving credit for 830 days already served in county jail.
