Brendan Kirby
Investigative Reporter
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Brendan Kirby is a 25-year veteran journalist who previously has worked for newspapers, including the Mobile Press-Register and AL.com.
For three years, he also covered politics for a national news website.
A graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., he lives in Daphne with his wife and two children.
Brendan has lived on the Gulf Coast since 2000 and is excited about covering the region again.
Brendan’s interests include traveling, sports and history. He is the author of the 2015 book “Wicked Mobile,” which chronicles the villains and notorious events of the Port City’s 300-year-old history. A native Philadelphian, he is a devoted fan of its professional sports teams.
Updated: 1 hour ago
|By Brendan Kirby
Alabama’s strictest-in-the-nation abortion ban could be softened, according to a state senator who co-sponsored the 2019 measure.
Updated: 7 hours ago
|By Brendan Kirby
A convicted bank robber on Tuesday pleaded guilty to bribing a guard at the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton.
Updated: 24 hours ago
|By Brendan Kirby
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Monday in favor of a convicted Mobile doctor not only likely will result in a new trial for him but could impact similar convictions, according to the physician’s lawyer.
Updated: Jun. 27, 2022 at 4:38 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A man charged with five counts of attempted murder in connection with a shooting at a high school football game last year will remain jailed pending trial, a judge ruled Monday.
Updated: Jun. 24, 2022 at 5:37 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Performing an abortion is now a crime in Alabama – punishable by as much as life in prison.
Updated: Jun. 23, 2022 at 5:55 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Prichard man to more than two decades in prison for a string of pharmacy holdups and burglaries.
Updated: Jun. 23, 2022 at 5:34 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Already facing decades behind bars for child sex offenses, a Mississippi man appeared in a federal courtroom Thursday to answer charges that he faked his own death.
Updated: Jun. 23, 2022 at 12:42 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
As many as five gunmen fired more than 40 shots during an attack that resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy last month, a police investigator testified Thursday.
Updated: Jun. 22, 2022 at 5:10 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A store owner from Georgia made a half-dozen trips to Atmore in 2018 for clandestine meetings in a parking lot off of the interstate with a seller who turned out to be an undercover federal investigator.
Updated: Jun. 22, 2022 at 12:49 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Three people involved in a now-defunct Chinese restaurant pleaded guilty Wednesday to employing illegal immigrants, the culmination of a tip dating all the way to 2009.
Updated: Jun. 21, 2022 at 6:24 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The victim of a fatal gunshot on Sunday was just turning a corner in his life, according to his father. Mobile police on Tuesday identified the victim as 23-year-old Karlos Cortez Pettway, who died in a house in the 1900 block of West Clark Avenue, just inside the Mobile city limits in the Trinity Gardens community. Police said the shooting occurred at about 4:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Updated: Jun. 21, 2022 at 5:10 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A Prichard man accused of fatally beating a dog earlier this month has been ordered jailed pending trial a federal gun charge.
Updated: Jun. 21, 2022 at 12:30 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Police said Monday they are investigating a homicide that occurred Sunday afternoon, the 27th intentional killing of the year.
Updated: Jun. 14, 2022 at 5:42 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
It remains to be seen whether the defendant in the Spring Hill College rape case will take the witness stand, but the jury on Tuesday did hear his account in his own words.
Updated: Jun. 13, 2022 at 10:46 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A sharply divided Prichard water board on Monday failed to approve a 5 percent cost-of-living pay raise for employees amid concerns over the utility’s finances.
Updated: Jun. 13, 2022 at 4:44 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A friend of alleged rape victim Audrey Cox testified Monday that the defendant, Vassil Kokali, raped her the previous October.
Updated: Jun. 13, 2022 at 10:53 AM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Two mean caught during a traffic stop in Mobile County with fake identification cards and forged payroll checks will not have to serve any more time behind bars, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Updated: Jun. 10, 2022 at 5:20 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The defense in the Spring Hill College rape trial on Friday continued to grill the woman who accused a fellow student of sexually assaulting her.
Updated: Jun. 9, 2022 at 7:18 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The rape trial of a former Spring Hill College student got underway Thursday with testimony from the accuser and diametrically opposing accounts from the two sides of what took place in her dorm room last year.
Updated: Jun. 9, 2022 at 3:08 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Fraud hunters looking into money Congress authorized to help businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic have bagged another prize.
Updated: Jun. 8, 2022 at 5:45 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The rape trial of a former Spring Hill College student inched closer to opening statements Wednesday, as jury selection approached its conclusion.
Updated: Jun. 8, 2022 at 1:28 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Following the terms of a plea agreement, a federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a Monroeville man to 30 years in prison for 30 child pornography.
Updated: Jun. 8, 2022 at 10:31 AM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The University of South Alabama police chief has been put on paid leave pending an investigation, the school said Wednesday.
Updated: Jun. 7, 2022 at 4:34 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Prosecutors and defense lawyers Tuesday began the painstaking process of selecting a jury to hear the evidence against a former Spring Hill College student accused of raping a fellow student.
Updated: Jun. 7, 2022 at 4:00 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced former Evergreen City Councilman Luther Upton to probation for threatening a police officer during a radio broadcast.
Updated: Jun. 6, 2022 at 6:52 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Area lawmakers and other supporters of fired Bishop State Community College President Lawrence Brandyburg on Monday blasted has abrupt termination.
Updated: Jun. 6, 2022 at 6:12 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A federal judge on Monday imposed a nine-month prison sentence on a murder suspect who pleaded guilty to filing a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program application from prison.
Updated: Jun. 3, 2022 at 6:10 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The city’s 23 homicides so far this year put it on a pace to exceed last year’s total. A deeper look reveals numbers that public safety officials say may be even more alarming. So far this year, according to the Mobile Police Department, officers have recovered 76 illegal firearms – including guns stolen from inside and outside the city. Police say 163 guns have been reported stolen from vehicles.
Updated: Jun. 3, 2022 at 5:23 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The rape trial of former Spring Hill College student Vassil Kokali is set to get under way in Mobile, but the lawyers involved in the case won’t be talking about it beforehand.A judge has issued a partial “gag order” in the case.
Updated: Jun. 2, 2022 at 5:54 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
When gunmen fired multiple shots into a house in Happy Hill, triggering an explosion that destroyed the house and severely damaged one next door, it didn’t take police long to come up with suspects. The planning was caught on wiretaps.
Updated: Jun. 2, 2022 at 12:45 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The wide-ranging, multi-agency investigation into financial impropriety at the Prichard water board began with the theft of a food trailer owned by the utility, an investigator testified Thursday.
Updated: Jun. 1, 2022 at 1:35 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Police on Wednesday charged two people with killing a 14-year-old girl on Michael Donald Avenue, the second day in a row a child suffered fatal gunshots.
Updated: Jun. 1, 2022 at 1:28 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The governors of Alabama and Florida have signed the extradition paperwork for accused Ladd-Peebles Stadium shooter Hezekiah Kaniel Belfon, but it will be a few more weeks before he’s returned to Alabama.
Updated: May. 31, 2022 at 2:15 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Mobile police said they arrested the man who shot and killed an 11-year-old boy on Monday.
Updated: May. 30, 2022 at 6:32 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Folks across the Gulf Coast on Monday marked Memorial Day with the solemn reverence the holiday holds but also as a time to relax and spend time with family.
Updated: May. 30, 2022 at 3:32 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A Prichard man accused in a string of pharmacy heists claims his lawyer pressured him to plead guilty to federal charges.
Updated: May. 27, 2022 at 5:48 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
According to AAA, the national average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline is $4.60. That’s up $1.50 compared to this time last year. In Mobile and Baldwin counties, the prices range from $3.95 and $4.35 a gallon. Those prices are not expected to stop people from driving as summer unofficially kicks off this weekend, though. AAA projects 39.2 million travelers this weekend, including 34.9 million by automobile.
Updated: May. 26, 2022 at 6:17 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Mickey French, special agent in charge of the ATF Field Division in Nashville, Tennessee, said the agency is investigating more than 1,500 Glock chip cases nationwide. That includes nine in Mobile, which is part of his division.
Updated: May. 25, 2022 at 3:49 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A former Creola police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday beating an inmate in the city jail.
Updated: May. 23, 2022 at 10:11 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
An attorney for a Prichard police officer charged with domestic violence asked a judge Monday to hold the alleged victim in criminal contempt for violating a no-contact order.
Updated: May. 23, 2022 at 5:59 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
On Monday, the Mobile County Commission approved a $30,000 contract with Hotel & Leisure Advisers LLC for the development of an outdoor waterpark. The company will negotiate with developers for what commissioners envision as a public-private partnership.
Updated: May. 23, 2022 at 4:18 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Most of the Mobile County government’s roughly 1,400 employees are in line for a pay hike this summer. The County Commission unanimously approved the merit-based pay increase Monday.
Updated: May. 20, 2022 at 6:47 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Historically, the Daphne Civic Center has had more registered voters than any other precinct in Baldwin County. But many people who have voted there in the past will be casting ballots elsewhere in Tuesday’s primaries.
Updated: May. 19, 2022 at 8:34 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
The three Republicans running for Mobil County District Court judge favor a constitutional amendment that would allow judges to deny bail to people accused of serious crimes, but all say those decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis.
Updated: May. 19, 2022 at 5:43 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A Prichard man who was about to be sentenced for a string of pharmacy burglaries and robberies told a federal judge on Thursday that he wants to take back his guilty plea.
Updated: May. 18, 2022 at 7:19 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Both Republican candidates for district attorney have promised to make changes if elected, but they sharply disagree over whether the criminal justice system is broken.
Updated: May. 18, 2022 at 6:24 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A man who was one of the city’s “Most Wanted” before his capture last month appeared in federal court Wednesday on a gun charge.
Updated: May. 18, 2022 at 5:03 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A former Creola police officer appeared in federal court Wednesday to answer charges in connection with the beating an inmate in the city jail.
Updated: May. 17, 2022 at 6:18 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
Students at two schools where new football stadiums are under construction will have to wait a little longer than planned to watch games under the Friday night lights.
Updated: May. 16, 2022 at 11:32 PM CDT
|By Brendan Kirby
A woman who worked for a construction company pleaded guilty Monday to using her position to steal more than $276,000.