A maniac armed with a metal rod and wooden stick allegedly beat two sleeping homeless people to death and injured another homeless couple in an unprovoked pre-dawn rampage in downtown Miami, according to police.
Brenton Clarke, 36, allegedly began his inexplicable spree of violence around 5:45 a.m. Thursday, when video showed someone walking down NW 6th Street with a “metal rod” and then suddenly hitting two homeless people who were sleeping together, police said.
The attacker was then seen sprinting across the street and delivering several blows to another sleeping homeless man, stealing his belongings and running off, cops said.
About five minutes later, he approached another sleeping homeless person in the area and fatally bashed them with the rod, according to police.
The brute, now holding a large wooden stick, returned to the second victim, who was on his knees, and knocked him “flat on the ground,” Miami police said in the report.
He crosses the street again back to where the two people had been sleeping together and rains more blows on them with the stick.
An armed witness then confronted the suspect, who chucked the stick and took off running. He ditched his sweatshirt and hat under a car, but was taken into custody by police around 6:10 a.m. with his pants and shoes spattered with still-wet bloodstains, police said.
The second and third victims were both declared dead while the initial couple was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment. Their conditions were not immediately clear.
“This is a horrible incident, the officers on the scene and the Miami Police Department is appalled at this display of unprovoked violence,” Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales told reporters on Thursday.
“We do have a lot of video evidence that we’re going through to try to piece this together,” he said.
Clarke, who has no local criminal past, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder as well as armed robbery with a deadly weapon, NBC Miami reported.
“We would like to extend our gratitude to the witnesses who came forward and provided crucial assistance in this investigation,” the Miami Police Department said in a statement. “Their bravery and willingness to cooperate with law enforcement were instrumental in bringing the suspect into custody.”
The horrible killings were disturbingly reminiscent of the 2019 murders of four homeless men who were beaten to death in New York City’s Chinatown.
