Brian McGann Jr. pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after originally facing a first-degree murder charge.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Palm Beach County judge sentenced Brian McGann Jr. to 38 years in state prison after he admitted killing his father during a violent 2024 attack inside a suburban Lake Worth home.

The sentence ended a case that began with a late-night 911 call and a grim scene inside the home of Brian McGann Sr. McGann Jr. had been charged with first-degree murder, but he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a deal that spared both sides a trial. Circuit Judge Sarah Willis gave him credit for 830 days already served in the Palm Beach County Jail.

The fatal attack happened Feb. 4, 2024, after McGann Jr. had been speaking by phone with a longtime family friend, investigators said. The friend later told detectives that McGann Jr. sounded frantic, intoxicated and paranoid during the day. She said he told her to pack her belongings and leave because “he was going to be dead,” a statement she found strange because she lived in Middleburg, several hours away from Palm Beach County. Later that night, she said, McGann Jr. told her he was pulling into his father’s residence. Deputies said the call then turned violent as she heard screaming, hitting sounds and Brian McGann Sr. pleading, “Stop, you are killing me.”

The woman called 911 after the sounds on the phone became more chaotic, according to the arrest report. She told investigators she heard McGann Jr. demand the combination to his father’s safe and say his father was “under my foot.” Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies were sent to the home shortly after 11 p.m. for a violent domestic disturbance. When they arrived, they saw McGann Jr. trying to flee by jumping a back gate into a nearby yard, according to investigators. Deputies found him hiding in the area. They said he was covered in blood from his face to his feet, and his hands were swollen and cut in a way that appeared to show signs of a struggle.

After McGann Jr. was detained, deputies forced their way into the home and found his father unresponsive on the living room floor. Investigators said the elder McGann’s clothing was soaked with blood, his face was badly battered and blood was on nearby walls and furniture. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled that he died from blunt force trauma. Investigators did not identify a weapon in the public summaries of the case, and the records described the killing as a beating. The arrest report said the family friend told deputies McGann Jr. had recently begun using cocaine, appeared to be paranoid and had grown angry after learning that his father received a vaccine.

The records do not say what vaccine was involved. That detail remained unclear when the case ended in court more than two years later. Prosecutors originally pursued a first-degree murder charge, which would have required them to prove a higher level of intent at trial. The second-degree murder plea allowed the case to close without jury selection, witness testimony or a public trial over the phone call, the condition of the home and the statements attributed to McGann Jr. The court credited the time he had spent in jail since his arrest, reducing the amount of time left to serve from the 38-year term imposed by the judge.

The case also showed how a witness miles away became central to the investigation. The family friend was not inside the home, but deputies relied on her account to describe the final minutes before the 911 call. She had known the family for years, according to reports, and told detectives she remained on the phone as the argument became a physical attack. Her account placed McGann Jr. at the home, gave deputies a timeline and preserved words that later appeared in the arrest report. The report said she heard McGann Sr. cry out that he was being killed and then heard his son speak about the victim being under his foot.

By the time of sentencing, the case had shifted from an active murder investigation to a final judgment. McGann Jr. stood before the court as a defendant who accepted a reduced murder count rather than go to trial on the original charge. The judge’s sentence means he will remain in state custody for decades, though the exact release date will depend on Florida prison rules and any credits applied by corrections officials. The plea also ended the need for jurors to weigh the details of the phone call, the blood evidence and the statements from the family friend.

The killing drew attention because of the relationship between the men, the alleged motive described by the witness and the unusually direct account of the attack as it happened. Authorities said the violence unfolded inside the elder McGann’s living room while a caller listened from another part of the state. The home became both the crime scene and the place where deputies found the victim after forcing entry. The nearby yards became part of the search area when deputies said McGann Jr. tried to escape. The phone call became a key record of the moments before deputies arrived.

The criminal case now stands closed at the trial court level after the guilty plea and 38-year sentence. The next formal steps are administrative, as McGann Jr. is processed into state prison custody and the sentence is carried out.

Author note: Last updated June 16, 2026.