MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Shannon Gilday confessed to killing 32-year-old Jordan Morgan in her family's home shortly after he was arrested, according to a Kentucky State Police detective.
Gilday appeared in court — wearing a bulletproof vest — for a preliminary hearing Wednesday morning. During the hearing, KSP Detective Cameron Allen said Gilday admitted to shooting his way into the home, armed with an AR-15, and killing Jordan Morgan and shooting her father.
Gilday was on the run for nearly a week after police say he shot and killed Jordan Morgan in a deadly home invasion at the Morgan family's mansion on Feb. 22.
During that time between the shooting and his arrest, KSP says Gilday drove to Florida, then up north again. His car broke down in Georgia, but eventually, he made it back to Madison County where he was located and arrested on Feb. 28.
According to investigators, a search of his recovered car revealed an AR-15 in the trunk, camo fatigues, and a long nylon rope.
Detectives say Gilday told them he was trying to gain access to the bunker no matter what.
"He stated he had prepared himself to force his way into the residence by any means necessary. He had done surveillance multiple times and had tried to access the bunker through a tunnel but was unable to do so," said Allen. “He told me he was willing to kill everyone inside the residence, if necessary, in order to access the bunker.”
Gilday's family has mentioned how distraught Gilday was over the chance of nuclear war and obsessed with finding a bunker. He kept notes on the Morgan family and their home which has a bunker beneath it.
Court documents reveal that Gilday is accused of climbing scaffolding to enter the Morgan residence through a window on the second floor, exchanging gunfire, and then escaping.
Sheriff Mike Coyle says Gilday was returning to the home of former state lawmaker C. Wesley Morgan when deputies found him.
"Once he left Madison County and came back to carry out his means that he wanted to get back at that location," Coyle said. "No telling what would've happened if he hadn't been apprehended at that point in time."
Sheriff Coyle complimented the fiscal court, thanking them for their help establishing a 24-hour patrol which led to a deputy spotting Gilday in the early morning of February 28.
Gilday appeared in court March 2, entering a not guilty plea on six felony charges.
He is charged with murder, burglary, criminal mischief, assault, and two counts of attempted murder. The case against Gilday now moves to a grand jury.
