(AP/TJV NEWS) — Police said early Tuesday they arrested a suspected gunman who has been stalking homeless men asleep on the streets of New York City and Washington D.C., killing at least two people and wounding three others in less than two weeks.
Law enforcement arrested the suspect in Washington, D.C., and he was being interviewed by police, the Metropolitan Police Department said on Twitter.
Heavy.com reported:Gerald Brevard III is the suspected serial shooter accused of killing two homeless men and wounding three others in Washington D.C. and New York City, police say. Brevard is a 30-year-old Washington resident, according to NBC News. Police have not formally identified Brevard as the suspect. NBC News and The Daily Beast identified him, citing law enforcement sources.
Police in the two cities earlier released multiple surveillance photographs, including a close-up snapshot clearly showing the man’s face, and urged people who might know him to come forward.
Summary of crimes:
According to the press release from police, the first victim was shot on March 3, 2022, at about 4 a.m. on New York Avenue, Northeast in Washington D.C. Officers responded to a report of shots fired and found a man suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. About an hour later, police said they responded to the 1700 block of H Street, Northeast and found a second victim suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. On March 9, about 3 a.m., police found a man who had been shot and stabbed in a tent that was set on fire on New York Avenue, Northeast in D.C., according to the press release.
On March 12, a man sleeping on King Street near Varick Street in New York City was shot about 4:30 a.m., police said. He was hit in the arm. According to The New York Daily News, the victim was able to scare the shooter off by yelling at him and pretending to call 911. The fatal shooting is believed to have happened about 6 a.m., police said. The victim, who was shot in the head and neck, was not found dead until about 5 p.m., according to police.
The arrested had an extensive violent criminal background, as Heavy.com profiled:
Gerald Brevard III was arrested in December 2020 in Virginia as a suspect in several crimes in the Herndon area that took place between November 27 and December 3 of that year, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a press release. According to police, Brevard was caught after he was suspected of trying to break into a Herndon home. He was found by police hiding in a nearby apartment complex, the release said. Investigators said Brevard matched the description of a suspect wanted in a series of incidents where women were lured and assaulted or robbed.
According to police, Brevard was suspected of assaulting a woman in a hotel on Sunrise Valley Drive on November 27 in Herndon. During that 7:30 a.m. incident, police said a woman was walking in a hotel hallway when, “a man grabbed her from behind. The man covered her mouth, pushed her against a wall and assaulted her. She was able to yell for help and the man ran away. The victim suffered minor injuries.”
Police said a woman in an apartment complex reported a man matching the description of the hotel attacker approached her with a gun on December 3 and robbed her before running away. Also on December 3, police said a woman walking on the street about 11:45 p.m. in Herndon was attacked. “A man hit her with an object, moved her away from the sidewalk and sexually assaulted her. Personal property was taken before the man walked away from the area. The woman was taken to the hospital for injuries that were not life threatening,” police said.
Brevard was initially held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, according to the press release. Details of the outcome of the case against him were not immediately available. According to the New York Post, Brevard was put on supervised probation.
“Additional information will be forthcoming” the statement on Twitter said. “Thanks to the community for all your tips.”
The mayors of New York City and Washington, D.C., had appealed to the public for help Monday in the search for the gunman. Investigators acknowledged Monday, though, that they knew little about the suspected killer or his motive.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, speaking together at a news conference Monday, had urged anyone living on the streets to go to city shelters where they might be safer.
“We know that our unsheltered residents already face a lot of daily dangers and it is unconscionable that anybody would target this vulnerable population,” Bowser said.
Adams said New York City police and homeless outreach teams would focus on finding unhoused people in the subways and other locations to urge them to seek refuge at city-owned shelters.
In Washington, city outreach workers were passing out flyers among the homeless population, urging people to “be vigilant” and featuring multiple pictures of the suspect.
Investigators in the two cities began to suspect a link between the shootings on Sunday after a Metropolitan Police Department homicide captain — a former resident of New York City — saw surveillance photos that had been released Saturday night by the New York Police Department while scrolling through social media.
The man in those photos looked similar to the one being sought by his own department.
