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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Josh Marcus

Man with stick kills two homeless people in Miami in ‘unprovoked’ attack

Miami police cars block an intersection on January 16, 2025, as part of their investigation into a man who attacked four homeless people earlier that morning, killing two. - (NBC 6 screen grab)

A man wielding a stick attacked multiple homeless people in Miami on Thursday, leaving two dead and two injured, according to police.

“This is a horrible incident,” Miami Police Chief Manny Morales told reporters. “The officers on the scene and the Miami Police Department is appalled at this display of unprovoked violence.”

Police apprehended a suspect in the attacks, who attempted to flee on foot but was hit with a stun gun and captured.

Officials described the individual, who hasn’t been named publicly, as a 30-year-old with no known criminal history in the city.

"It appears the individual has no local criminal past, he does have some minor criminal run-ins with the police up in New York," Morales said.

Police were called just after 6 a.m., and responded “within seconds,” according to Morales.

The individual beat one man near a downtown train station, then headed down the street and attacked multiple others, including a different man and a couple.

Police blocked off North Miami Avenue and Northwest 6th Street, where officers could reportedly be seen inspecting what appeared to be a bloodied plank of wood.

Officers set up a command center near the site of the attack, Brightline Central Station.

Advocates condemned the violence.

The Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust called the attacks a “senseless” loss of life.

“Our deep appreciation to Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales and his team at the Miami Police Department for their swift apprehension of a suspect in this senseless set of murders and attacks on our community’s most vulnerable and for what we know will be an aggressive prosecution by State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s office,” Ron Book, chair of the trust, said.

“I was just scared,” Matthew Romero, who works nearby, told NBC Miami. “That was the first reaction.”

“I make the walk every day from the parking garage to work, so it is concerning.”

Homeless people, many of whom already come from disadvantaged social groups, face “far higher” rates of physical and sexual assault than the general population, according to the University of San Francisco Benoiff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.

In 2019, four homeless men were beaten to death in New York City by a man wielding a pipe.

In 2023, meanwhile, Los Angeles officials warned about an alleged serial killer targeting unhoused people.

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