Serial Shooter Targeting Unsheltered People Arrested in Washington, DC

A gunman who had been targeting and killing people sleeping on the streets of New York City and Washington, DC was apprehended by police on Tuesday. The 30 year-old Washington, DC man had been identified by relatives and law enforcement as Gerald Brevard III.

Brevard was arrested at around 2:30 a.m. local time in southeast DC following an intense manhunt conducted by both the New York Police Department and the Metropolitan Police Department that was launched on Sunday. DC officials say he will be charged with first-degree murder.

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The assaults took place between March 3 and March 12, with Brevard allegedly shooting two men who were sleeping on the streets. The gunshot wounds which he inflicted on his first two victims, one on March 3 and the other on March 8, were non-fatal.

On March 9, Brevard allegedly killed his first victim, by stabbing the man multiple times, shooting him and lighting his tent on fire. This took place in Washington, DC at 3:00 a.m.

Brevard then traveled to New York City where he shot a man while he was sleeping on King Street around 4:30 a.m. on March 12. The man was shot in the arm, but reportedly survived. Following the assault, Brevard murdered a New Yorker who was living on the streets by shooting him in the head while he slept in a sleeping bag.

The victim was found by police 11 hours later after a passerby called 911. A surveillance camera caught the suspect at around 6 a.m. approaching the victim at 22 Howard Street, a 15-minute walk from King Street.

Castings of the bullet casings exchanged between NYPD and DC police showed that the bullets in each city came from the same gun.

“As you watch, you’re kind of taken aback and just shocked that someone could commit such a jarring act against a defenseless person,” Chief of Detectives James W. Essig said.

Brevard has a string of misdemeanors and felonies in Washington, DC and northern Virginia which include several charges of assault. He was also found mentally incompetent after a court-ordered examination and was subsequently committed to Saint Elizabeths Hospital in 2019, according to court records.

In an interview, Brevard’s father said his son’s mental health issues were never properly addressed. He said Saint Elizabeths kept him for only a week, declared him competent to stand trial, and released him despite his family’s objections.

“They said he was healthy so they let him out,” said Brevard’s father. “I knew he wasn’t healthy. I know my son.”

“I’m not holding DC responsible, but they could have done more. They let him out, and he wasn’t right. They let him out of St. Elizabeths, and they let him out of jail,” he added.

Brevard’s aunt, Sheila Brevard, revealed that he had been homeless off and on for many years.

According to Essig, the suspect returned to Washington on Sunday. He had called his father and told him he was being followed and plotted against by coworkers at a restaurant in DC where he worked as a server. Brevard’s father said he did not mention anything about the shootings.

On Monday, authorities shared a photo of the suspect taken at an ATM in Union Station, attached to the photo was a $70,000 bounty for the serial shooter. It was also on Monday that the NYPD received about a dozen tips, one of which included Brevard’s name.

Gerald Brevard

© CBS Evening News

Authorities arrested Brevard at a gas station some five miles from the White House and took him into custody at 2:30 a.m.

“We said that the work to remove this man from our streets was urgent, and our communities responded,” said DC Mayor Muriel Browser, who believes tips from the public helped authorities find the suspect.

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