Prosecutors: Suspect played music after homeless shooting
A man suspected of shooting five homeless people in Washington and New York City — killing two of them — appeared to hold up a phone and play music after he shot one one of the victims and was caught when a longtime friend identified him after police linked the cases through ballistics evidence, telephone records and the suspect’s social media posts, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Gerald Brevard, 30, was ordered held without bail after appearing before a judge in Washington on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of 54-year-old Morgan Holmes, who was found shot and stabbed inside a burning tent in Washington this month. Brevard has not been formally charged in the other Washington shootings or the New York cases.
Prosecutors allege Brevard escalated his violence as he stalked and shot homeless people asleep on the streets of the two cities over a 10-day period. The earliest known shooting happened at around 4 a.m. on March 3 in Washington, police said, when a man was wounded in the city’s Northeast section.