The primary time the gunman struck in Washington, he hovered over his sufferer and shot him 3 times as a prepare handed. The second time, prosecutors mentioned, he shot the sufferer within the head, face, chest, thigh and buttocks, then sat on a curb taking part in loud music.

And the third time, he stabbed the sufferer a number of instances, shot the person twice and set him on fireplace.

It was all a part of a weird, unprovoked taking pictures spree concentrating on homeless males throughout two cities, Washington, D.C., and New York, that resulted within the deaths of two males and the wounding of three others.

Shell casings stamped with the letter “C” tied the shootings collectively, a tip gave police a reputation and cellphone tracing led investigators to a suspect: Gerald Brevard III. He was formally charged with first-degree homicide on Wednesday in Superior Court docket in Washington, the place prosecutors mentioned they had been nonetheless gathering proof to help further fees.

Court docket paperwork launched Wednesday define a murderous rampage towards helpless, motionless targets.

Below a photograph of the suspect posted on Monday on his Instagram account, and uncovered by the police, is the legend, “Feeling Devilish, Feeling Godly.”

In court docket, a federal prosecutor described a “disturbing escalation of violent conduct.” The prosecutor, Sarah Santiago, an assistant United States legal professional for the District of Columbia, mentioned the assaults had been all of the extra disturbing as a result of they focused these “who’re susceptible as a result of they stay on the road.”

Justice of the Peace Decide Tanya Jones Bosier ordered Mr. Brevard held through the listening to on Wednesday after noting that he had skipped a legal trial in Maryland final month and rejected psychological well being providers supplied throughout a earlier case in Washington.

He’s on probation in an assault and battery case in Virginia, prosecutors mentioned, and was arrested in Washington in 2019 on fees of tried assault with a knife. In 2014 he was arrested on a theft cost in Maryland.

The taking pictures spree that he’s now charged with started on March 3 in Washington and ended 9 days later in New York.

The primary sufferer mentioned that he was sleeping beneath an overpass in northeast Washington when he was woke up round 4:30 a.m. by a passing prepare, in response to a legal criticism filed Wednesday. When he opened his eyes, he mentioned, he noticed a person pointing a gun.

“Pop, pop,” he recalled the gun going off. He was shot twice within the decrease again, although the bullets solely grazed him. The person mentioned he went to a buddy’s home and bandaged his wounds earlier than calling the police.

Police discovered two shell casings on the crime scene per week later and recovered surveillance video from a half-mile away exhibiting a bald man wearing black strolling close by about 90 minutes earlier than the crime.

On March 8, Washington police, responding to reviews of gunfire round 1:20 a.m., discovered the second sufferer at a homeless encampment close to the nook of seventeenth and H Streets Northeast. He had been shot within the head, face, chest, thighs, buttocks and hand. The sufferer stays within the hospital.

A witness advised the police that he noticed a person wearing black fireplace one shot on the sufferer, who was sitting in a chair. The sufferer acquired up screaming and ran, and the gunman walked behind him. He fired three extra photographs, adopted by two or three extra, the witness mentioned.

A safety digicam recorded the sound of a person screaming, “No, no, no” and “please don’t shoot” after the primary shot. Minutes later, a digicam recorded the suspect sitting on a curb one block away holding what gave the impression to be a cellphone and taking part in music.

The following morning, shortly earlier than 3 a.m., a hearth broke out at a homeless encampment. When it was put out, police found a mattress burned right down to the springs and the physique of a person later recognized as Morgan Holmes, 54.

He was so badly burned that investigators didn’t see that he had been stabbed and shot, as an post-mortem subsequently revealed. The following day, March 10, they discovered two shell casings and two folding knives amongst his possessions.

Investigators discovered surveillance video of the suspect strolling to and from the realm the place the sufferer was later discovered. At one level, he appeared to attempt to pump gasoline right into a cup.

After torching the sufferer, prosecutors mentioned the gunman went to Union Station, the place he used an A.T.M. earlier than disappearing onto a Metrorail prepare.

Officers have mentioned they consider the identical gunman surfaced on March 12 in New York, the place he’s believed to have shot two homeless males sleeping on the streets of Decrease Manhattan, killing one. Mr. Brevard has not been charged in these circumstances.

After releasing a photograph on Monday of the suspect utilizing the A.T.M., the police acquired a tip from somebody who knew Mr. Brevard and gave authorities his title, start date and Instagram consumer title.

That led them to a photograph posted on Mr. Brevard’s Instagram account on March 10 by which he wore the identical clothes because the suspect within the shootings.

Police traced a quantity they obtained for him to all 5 crime scenes, then again to Washington, the place they discovered Mr. Brevard strolling close to a gasoline station in Fairlawn, a neighborhood in Northeast. He was taken into custody early Tuesday, carrying clothes that investigators had noticed in surveillance footage: black Puma sneakers, black joggers and a quilted black jacket.