A maniac armed with metal and wooden bars is suspected of beating two sleeping homeless people to death and injuring another homeless couple during a pre-dawn rampage through downtown Miami, police said.
Police said Brenton Clark, 36, allegedly began an unexplained act of violence around 5:45 a.m. Thursday, with footage showing someone holding a “metal rod” in the northwest corner of the northwest corner. He was seen walking down 6th Avenue and suddenly punching two homeless men who were sleeping with him.
Police said the gunman then sprinted across the street, struck another sleeping homeless man several times, stole his belongings and fled.
About five minutes later, the man approached another homeless person who was sleeping in the area and fatally struck him with a stick, police said.
The violent man then returned to the second victim, who was on his knees with a large wooden stick, and slammed him “flat to the ground,” according to a Miami police report.
He crosses the street again, returns to where they were sleeping together, and hits them further with his stick.
An armed witness then confronted the suspect, who threw down the stick and ran away. Police said the man threw his sweatshirt and hat under the car, but his pants and shoes were still splattered with wet blood when he was taken into police custody around 6:10 a.m.
The second and third victims were both pronounced dead, and the first couple was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment. Their circumstances were not immediately clear.
“This was a horrific incident. The officers on scene and the Miami Police Department are appalled by this senseless act of violence,” Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales said in a statement. told reporters on Thursday.
“We have a lot of video evidence that we're examining to piece this together,” he said.
Clark, who had no local criminal record, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and armed robbery with a deadly weapon. NBC Miami reported.
“We would like to thank the witnesses who came forward and provided critical assistance to this investigation,” Miami Police Department said in a statement. “Their courage and willingness to cooperate with law enforcement was instrumental in keeping the suspect in custody.”
The horrific murders were disturbingly reminiscent of the 2019 bludgeoning of four homeless men in New York City's Chinatown.
