New York man accused of killing, beating four homeless people in Miami. Possible hate crime

Milena Malaver, Miami Herald on Jan 17, 2025

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MIAMI — A 36-year-old man from New York City has been arrested in the beating death of two homeless people in downtown Miami early Thursday morning, police said Friday, with the head of the county’s homeless agency calling on law enforcement to investigate the attacks as a “hate crime.”

According to Miami Police, this is what happened:

At about 5:45 a.m., Miami Police officers responded to reports of a man armed with a stick assaulting people around North Miami Avenue and Northwest Sixth Street. The man, later identified as Brenton Clarke, 36, was arrested after a brief foot chase.

Investigators say Clarke of Inwood, New York, was first seen around 5:06 a.m. walking near a man sleeping on the sidewalk. After briefly walking away, he returned minutes later, armed with a metal rod.

Clarke then turned his attention across the street, to where two people were sleeping together on the sidewalk. He began attacking them with the rod.

A few minutes later, Clarke returned to the first man he saw sleeping on the sidewalk and attacked him. He stole his belongings and ran away, heading west.

He returned and attacked a fourth person with the metal rod, beating him to death, police said. He then re-attacked the couple and the first man, whom police pronounced dead on the scene. The couple were seriously injured and taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, police said.

After the four attacks, a witness armed with a weapon confronted Clarke, leading him to run away.

Miami Police have not identified any of the victims nor indicated why Clarke was in Miami.

“There were several individuals attacked, all of them homeless,” Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said on Thursday.

Clarke was arrested near Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Fifth Street at approximately 6:10 a.m. after officers spotted him running erratically in the street. He was wearing a white tank top, blue jeans, and white shoes — clothes that matched descriptions from surveillance footage. Officers noted bloodstains on his clothing.

“The officers on scene and the Miami Police Department are appalled at the display of unprovoked violence, and we will make sure that our investigators pay close attention so we can hold this individual accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Morales said Thursday.

A hate crime?

Ron Book, chair of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, called the attacks a “senseless set of murders” and said the organization “remains committed and determined to get every person off the streets and into safe housing.”

Book said Friday he expects Miami Police and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

Hate crimes are those targeted against a person based on the perpetrator’s bias or prejudice against a victim, including relating to their race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Hate crimes are not a standalone charge, but a convicted criminal would receive a tougher sentence if prosecutors determined the act to be a hate crime, said Ed Griffith, spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office.

“In the 30-plus years that I’ve been chairman of the Trust, I’ve never seen anywhere in America a more heinous, more vicious attack on homeless people than what this gentleman has done,” Book told the Miami Herald.

Book said there is no indication that the man is homeless and has only been in Miami for about a week. And while police have identified four victims so far, Book believes there may be more.

Police say Clarke has refused to speak or provide any motivation.

Clarke has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery with a deadly weapon. He was jailed at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Friday morning. Jail records show his bond status is “to be set.”

Clarke does not have any criminal history in Miami, said Morales, but does “have some minor criminal run-ins with police in up in New York.”

A 2013 crime report on the New York Patch news site said a man named Brenton Clarke, 25, of Inwood was arrested and charged with robbery for an incident that occurred on Dawes Avenue on Oct. 12 of that year.

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Miami Herald reporter David Goodhue contributed to this report.