D.C. Police Arrest ‘Homeless Slayer,’ Hours After Joint Press Conference
By • March 15, 2022 0 793
“We’re coming for you! We’re using all the forces at our disposal, and we’re going to get you,” said Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee, along with Mayor Muriel Bowser, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials during a special press conference in D.C.’s Wilson Building at 6 p.m., Monday, March 14.
For the group, Contee was addressing the unknown man, via the media, who had assaulted five homeless men in the two cities, allegedly killing two of them between March 3 and March 13. They distributed a hazy photo of the “person of interest” taken at an ATM machine. They asked for the public’s help from “someone who knows him.” They offered a $70,000 reward — $25,000 each from the two cities and $20,000 from ATF — to anyone with information leading to arrest and conviction of the attacker.
Several hour later, in the wee hours of Tuesday, March 15, MPD arrested him.
According to The Washington Post, “Police have arrested Gerald Brevard III in connection with shootings that killed two homeless people and wounded three others over the past two weeks in Washington and New York, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.”
The Post further reported: “Brevard faces murder and assault charges in the D.C. attacks after police launched an intense search for a gunman,” said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. Brevard, 30, was arrested early Tuesday as he walked along a street near his home in Southeast Washington after police said they got several tips from people who saw photos posted by law enforcement authorities.”
It was a MPD captain who linked the separate shootings in New York and Washington as committed by a single gunman using the same weapon. “The D.C. officer is from Queens, New York,” said Contee at the press conference. “His friends there shared breaking news of shootings of homeless men in New York over the weekend and he saw the pattern.”
“Every resource in both cities is being used to warn people sleeping on the streets of the danger and to encourage them to seek shelter and permanent housing that both cities provide,” Contee added.
“We want to thank everyone in Washington, D.C., New York City and elsewhere who sent in tips about this suspect. I also want to thank Mayor Adams and his team in New York, our team at MPD, as well as our federal partners at the ATF for their collaboration and partnership. We said that the work to remove this man from our streets was urgent and our communities responded,” said Mayor Bowser.
“I want to personally thank our community members who submitted tips and information in this case, and thank our law enforcement partners for their tireless efforts in bringing this individual to justice,” said Contee. “It is essential for us to work together as a community to close cases and show the world that there is no place for those who commit violence in our communities.”
“Thanks to the coordination between different levels of law enforcement and the public’s help, those experiencing homelessness can breathe a sigh of relief today,” NYC Mayor Adams said. “The recent rise in gun violence remains a concern for us all, and we will do everything in our power to keep our citizens safe because public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity.”
“Excellent detective work, teamwork with our partners from the Metropolitan Police in D.C. at the ATF, and the FBI culminated in the arrest of the suspect,” Sewell said.
