Police are now contacting other cities to determine whether or not the suspect might be responsible for attacks elsewhere. Though he hasn’t been charged yet in the New York cases, police feel “very confident” they have identified the correct suspect, Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said.
A man suspected of stalking and shooting homeless people asleep on the streets of New York City and Washington was arrested early Tuesday. Police said at least two people were killed and three others wounded in the attacks, AP reports.
The suspect, Gerald Brevard was arrested in Washington on murder, assault and other charges after news of the killings had added new fears to people spending nights on the streets of the two cities and elsewhere.
The 30-year-old man, who lives in the Washington area, was charged Tuesday only in connection with the Washington cases and has not been charged in the New York attacks. Brevard has a criminal history that includes assaulting a police officer and assault with a deadly weapon and was in custody Tuesday. He was being questioned by both New York and Washington detectives.
Police in the two cities earlier released multiple surveillance photographs, including a closeup showing the suspect’s face that was obtained from an ATM surveillance camera in Washington, and urged people who might know him to come forward. Investigators used ballistic evidence and tips to help link the shootings, and a tipster called police with information about the suspect’s identity, officials said.
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