

Brenton Clarke, Inwood, NY man beats 2 homeless people to death along with injuring two others in downtown Miami in pre dawn attack. No known motive.
Florida authorities have arrested a 36 year old man alleged to have mercilessly beaten two homeless persons to death along with injuring another two during a pre dawn attack.
Brenton Clarke, was arrested shortly after Thursday morning’s unprovoked attack which involved the suspect allegedly using a ‘metal’ rod against two of his victims along with a ‘large wooden stick,’ on two others.
Upon his arrest, Clarke was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery with a deadly weapon, WPLG reported.
Suspect targets homeless victims in pre-dawn attack
According to an arrest affidavit, surveillance camera video captured Clarke walking by and then stopping to watch a person sleeping on a sidewalk of NW 6 Street near North Miami Avenue just after 5 a.m. on Thursday morning.
He then walked off. About 40 minutes later, video showed Clarke returning to the area and staring at two others sleeping on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street from the first person. Soon after Clarke, armed with a metal rod started beating the two sleeping together.
Clarke reportedly then ran across the street and started beating the first person who caught his attention. After taking some of their belongings, Clark ran toward NW 1 Avenue.
In the area of NW 1 Avenue, just north of NW 6 Street, surveillance video shows Clarke beating another person sleeping on the sidewalk with a wooden stick before running off, according to an arrest report.
Officials say two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while two others were transported to a nearby trauma center. Miami police were working to determine the motive behind the attacks, with police saying the victims may have been attacked because of their status of being ‘homeless.’
While Clarke has no prior criminal record in Miami, Clarke who hails from Inwood, NY does have a record for minor offences in NY, CBS News reported.
Not immediately clear is how Clarke came to be scouring the downtown area pre-dawn and if he had intentionally chosen that time of day to coordinate his attack on his ‘unhoused’ victims.
‘This is a horrible incident,’ said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales told reporters on Thursday. ‘The officers on the scene and Miami police are appalled at this display of unprovoked violence and we will make sure our investigators pay close attention so we can hold this individual accountable to the full extent of the law.’
Adding, ‘We do have a lot of video evidence that we’re going through to try to piece this together.’