WASHINGTON – The suspected attacker of homeless men in Washington, DC and New York reportedly fired multiple shots at his victims and ignored pleas not to open fire, court documents show.
Gerald Brevard III, 30, appeared for the first time in a court in the capital on Wednesday after being arrested as the alleged perpetrator of five shootings against homeless people that took place in the last two weeks.
Three of these were recorded in Washington and two in New York. In two of the attacks, the victims died. A third remained hospitalized Wednesday in serious condition, more than a week after being shot, records show.
Brevard, who has a long criminal history and according to his family has dealt with mental health issues for years, faces charges of first-degree murder and assault with intent to kill. A judge ordered him Wednesday to remain in custody without bail.
With each shooting, Brevard’s actions became more violent, prosecutors said. The charging documents expose shocking details about Brevard’s alleged conduct during and after the attacks.
Just hours before he was arrested, the suspect made an Instagram post in which he wrote, “Feeling diabolical, feeling pious,” according to authorities.
THE ATTACKS, IN DETAIL
In the first incident in the northeast of the capital, recorded on March 3 on New York Avenue, the victim, a homeless man, sustained a bullet wound in the lower part of his back, and was grazed on the shoulder, according to the registers.
The victim said that he woke up in the early hours of the morning after hearing a train pass and saw the suspect, but he did not say anything. Suddenly, she heard a “pop, pop” and realized that he had been shot. At first, he thought it was a pellet gun because the sound was faint. The suspect then fled.
That victim, who had her wounds dressed, was eventually taken to a hospital and released shortly thereafter.
Days later, in the early hours of March 8, another homeless man was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the 1700 block of H Street NE. According to the documents, he was hit at least five times: in the face, chest, leg, buttock and hand. That victim is still in a hospital fighting for his life.
A witness told authorities that the suspect shot the victim when she was in a chair. The injured man started screaming and ran south on H Street. The suspect followed him. The witness said that he then heard four other shots.
The documents indicate that in a security video of the area that morning, a man is heard shouting “no, no, no” and “please do not shoot” after a shot is heard.
The suspected gunman is seen minutes later, sitting on a sidewalk about a block from the scene of the shooting, holding what appears to be a cell phone. A security camera captured the audio of music playing, the documents state.
The following morning, on March 9, the police made a discovery that, at first, did not appear to be criminal in nature. An officer noticed a fire on a sidewalk in the 400 block of New York Avenue NE. Firefighters responded to the scene and extinguished a fire in what appeared to be a tent. Then, they found the remains of an adult male, who was later identified as 54-year-old Morgan Holmes. In the tent, there was a mattress, remains of wax and cigarettes and empty bottles of alcohol.
They did not immediately suspect that it was a crime. The next day, upon returning to the scene, agents found shell casings and a couple of knives in the rubble.
It was not until the autopsy that it was discovered that Holmes had not died of burns: he had been murdered. His body had several bullet holes and stab wounds.
According to authorities, witnesses reported hearing three or four shots about 40 minutes before the fire. According to the documents, surveillance video suggests the suspect left the scene after shooting Holmes and headed to a gas station on Florida Avenue, where he allegedly attempted to pour fuel into a coffee cup.
Then, the subject returned to the tent. He bent down several times and at some points, a small spark or flame can be seen in the videos, according to the version of the authorities. Suddenly, a fire ignited and grew as the suspect ran towards 4th Street NE. That same night, the man was seen at an ATM at Union Station, Washington’s bus and train station, the documents show.
He was arrested in the country’s capital by the police.
HOW THEY FIND THE SUSPECT
After allegedly committing the three crimes in Washington, Brevard would have traveled to New York and shot two homeless men who were sleeping in different parts of the SoHo area early Saturday morning, killing one of them.
According to the documents, images show the suspect in those incidents wearing the same clothes as those worn by the perpetrator of Holmes’s murder on March 9.
An image on social media seen by a Washington police officer over the weekend prompted city authorities to contact their counterparts in New York about these incidents. The attacks in the capital and in New York were then linked to the same subject thanks to ballistic evidence.
Brevard was identified as the suspect following a tip received by the Washington police. The informant told detectives that he recognized the suspect as Brevard, who was his acquaintance, after seeing a photo of him on a news show. He provided authorities with personal information about Brevard and his Instagram account, which was public. In a post on that user, detectives recognized one of the garments worn by the suspect in the attacks in the early hours of March 9 and 12.
Additionally, through cell phone records, they were able to determine that Brevard had been in both Washington, DC and New York on the days of the respective shootings.
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