Suspect in ‘unprovoked' attack on homeless people that left 2 dead in Miami identified

A man has been arrested on murder charges after an "unprovoked" attack on homeless people in downtown Miami left two dead and two others hospitalized Thursday morning, authorities said.

Brenton Clarke, 36, faces two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery with a deadly weapon, Miami Police officials said Friday. 

The incident unfolded around 6 a.m. when officers responded to reports of a man armed with a stick attacking people, Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales said.

An arrest report for Clarke details that police spoke to several witnesses and obtained surveillance video that showed the attack. 

At around 5:44 a.m., Clarke was allegedly seen attacking a couple that was sleeping on the sidewalk on Northwest 6th Street with a metal rod, the report said. He then ran across the street and “delivers several strikes” to a third person, before he started pulling on that victim’s belongings, the report said. 

Clarke ran westbound on Northwest 6th Street toward Northwest 1st Avenue with those stolen items, and bout five minutes later, he allegedly used the metal rod to attack a fourth person, who was sleeping on the sidewalk, the report said. 

Miami-Dade Corrections

Miami-Dade Corrections

Then, just before 6 a.m., police said video showed how Clarke went back toward the third victim, “who is now on his knees,” and attacked him with a large wooden stick that witnesses said he picked up nearby. 

He hit the victim several times, and knocked him flat on the ground, the arrest report said. Then he went back to the couple and attacked them again, the report said. 

Surveillance allegedly then showed how the suspect confronted a fifth person, but he was “ultimately confronted by an armed witness,” so he threw the large wooden stick and fled westbound. 

Two of the four victims died from their injuries, Morales said. The other two were rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment.

During the search for the suspect, officers found a green hoodie and a blue hat that was being worn by the suspect on video “concealed” under a white Mercedes-Benz parked south of Northwest 6th Street on Northwest 1st Court. 

When an officer finally saw Clarke at 6:10 a.m., he had “apparent wet stains on his pants and shoes,” which authorities “determined to be blood spatter,” the arrest report said. 

Police said the suspect was “exhibiting a frantic behavior and was running in the middle of the road… in an apparent attempt to flee from the location.” They arrested him after a short pursuit on foot.

Clarke was booked into jail. He appeared in court Friday, where he was appointed a public defender and ordered held without bond.

His permanent address is listed in Inwood, New York, and it's not clear what he was doing in Miami.

"This is a horrible incident, the officers on the scene and the Miami Police Department is appalled at this display of unprovoked violence," Morales said Thursday. "It appears the individual has no local criminal past, he does have some minor criminal run-ins with the police up in New York."

Authorities have not identified a potential motive for the crime.