Gerald Brevard III, 30, a suspect who mercilessly shot five homeless men, killing two in New York City and Washington D.C. in early March has been arrested in Washington D.C. The body of one victim was found stabbed, shot and burned in a tent.
His motive behind this horrendous act of mass shooting is still under investigation, but he was suffering from serious mental health issues.
Brevard’s mental health deteriorated. “His mind never came back,” his father said, lamenting the drug addiction in his teenage years. He had number of charges stacked against him including destroying property, armed robbery, sexual assault and credit card theft.
According to data compiled by NYC Government Publications, killings are part of a larger pattern. Since 2018, the number of homeless people killed in New York City has increased 300 percent. Seven people were killed that year, 10 in 2019, then 11 in 2020, and finally 22 in the last year.
In New York, high-profile incidents of violence on the subway, including the death of a woman pushed to her death by a homeless and mentally ill man, recently led Mayor Eric Adams, a former cop, to announce that police would move homeless people out of the transit system. The NYPD added about 1,000 officers to patrol the subways.
In his subway safety plan on February 18, Adams said that police would take a heavy handed approach in cracking down on disorder in the transit system and make it safe for tourists.
“No more smoking, no more doing drugs, no more sleeping, no more doing barbecues on the subway system,” Adams said. “No more just doing whatever you want. No, those days are over.”
According to data reported by the NYPD, the crime spectrum is soaring at a blistering pace in New York City.
For the month of January 2022, New York City saw a 38.5% increase in overall index crime compared with January 2021 (9,566 v. 6,905). Every major index crime category saw an increase for the month of January 2022 with the exception of murder, which fell by 15.2% (28 v. 33). Robbery increased by 33.1% (1,251 v. 940), and grand larceny increased by 58.1% (4,047 v. 2,559). Citywide shooting incidents increased by 31.6% (100 v. 76) in January 2022 compared with the same period last year.
Nearly every single precinct in New York City has seen an uptick in crimes so far this year. The only precinct in Manhattan to not see its crime rate jump was the 22nd Precinct, which covers Central Park.
“Only the squirrels are safe,” a cop added wryly. “Tourists will never come back. No neighborhood is safe.”
According to an interview by The New York Post, city residents seem frustrated with the Manhattan DA. “I think it’s crazy,” said Harlem resident Elizabeth Jenkins, a retired grandmother. “It’s a lot of fear because it’s all over the place, and right here, it’s really bad.”
Jenkins said soft-on-crime Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, himself a Harlem resident, is not doing the neighborhood any favors.
“I think he’s not good,” she said. “He’s not good on crime as far as I can see. He can do better. There’s a lot of crime, and he’s not really doing anything about it.”
Five precincts saw more than 100 percent rise in crime.
In the latest episode of violent weekends in NYC, Twenty-nine people were shot between Friday and Sunday in 24 separate incidents, the NYPD said on March 21.
As of writing,, 284 people have been shot in 253 incidents citywide, the NYPD said. At that point last year, 242 people were shot in 215 incidents, according to authorities.
