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The serial shooter targeting homeless men in the Big Apple and Washington, DC is also homeless, family revealed Tuesday, as officials announced charges in three of the cases.
Gerald Brevard III, 30, was taken into custody early Tuesday in the capital and charged with first-degree murder in the March 9 shooting and stabbing death of 54-year-old homeless man Morgan Holmes, the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department Robert Contee told reporters Tuesday.
Brevard was also hit with two other charges — assault with the intent to kill and assault with a dangerous weapon — in connection with two other incidents targeting vagrants earlier in the month, Contee said.
Brevard is the “suspect” in two additional cases in the Big Apple but there’s not enough evidence yet to bring charges, said James Essig, the NYPD’s Chief of Detectives, at an afternoon news conference.
“We don’t have enough to make an arrest. We’re working with the Manhattan District Attorney. We’re gathering all our records. This is two days old. We’re very confident we’ll get there,” Essig said.
Brevard’s alleged crimes against the homeless began in Washington, DC on March 3 before he allegedly came to Manhattan over the weekend and attacked two men sleeping on the street — executing one of them at point-blank range, cops said.
Ballistics examinations connected the same firearm to all five shootings, said Charlie Patterson, the special agent in charge of the Washington, DC Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms field office.
At the time of the alleged crimes, Brevard was homeless himself and only intermittently staying at a great aunt’s house in Maryland, his cousin Dearell Brevard Sr. said.
“When he wanted to be off the street he came, you know, to seek solace right here at my mom’s house … she would take him in every time,” the cousin explained of Brevard’s great aunt, adding police had been at the residence all morning investigating the room he’d frequently stay in.
“He would come in and out, stay a couple of nights and continue to move on.”
The cousin said he’d never heard Brevard speak negatively about the homeless and called his arrest a “total shock” to the entire family.
Brevard’s father Gerald Brevard Jr., 54, told The Post by phone his son has long suffered from mental health issues but when he tried to have him committed, he wasn’t able to.
“My son never had a violent bone in him as far as I know. He had mental problems … He wasn’t himself. He’s talking in the third person and stuff like that,” the father said.
“The bigger picture is not that he has mental illness, but the number of times that he’s been within the judicial system and how the system has failed regarding the treatment of so many, including my son,” the dad continued.
“I just spoke with him. He called from jail … He said he’s sorry for putting the family through this and he was going to get it sorted out and to tell everybody he loved them.”
He said Brevard had struggled with drug abuse and some of his mental health concerns potentially sprang from a bad acid trip with his friends several years ago.
In December 2020, Brevard was charged with assault and battery after he allegedly attacked a 23-year-old woman in Fairfax County, Virginia, court records show. He was given a sentence of 12 months probation but in February, a warrant went out for his arrest after he failed to comply with mental health treatment, which was a term of his probation, records show.
He was also wanted in Maryland for 33 counts of alleged credit card theft, the records show.
Brevard was taken into custody in DC Tuesday morning after cops received an anonymous tip revealing his identity, Contee said.
Surveillance footage captured the moment he was collared by federal agents near a gas station. The clip shows Brevard running and then stopping and throwing his arms in the air as agents swarm around him with their guns drawn. Brevard then goes down to the floor and lies on his stomach as he’s placed under arrest.
Shortly after cops got the tip of Brevard’s whereabouts, he posted a social media photo that appeared to show him in the DC area, which narrowed down law enforcement’s search, the chief said.
An Instagram profile that law enforcement sources say belonged to Brevard appeared to show that post before the account was taken down.
“Feeling Devilish Feeling Godly,” the caption stated alongside an image of Brevard walking down a street.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Larry Celona
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