Weeks after two of the suspects in a 2014 slaying of a disabled homeless man were arrested, a third person has been taken into custody in the violent and disturbing case.
As previously reported, three men were caught on surveillance video as they inflicted two rounds of beatings on 67-year-old Tai Lam as he slept in a Financial District alley near Montgomery and Sutter on November 23, 2014.
“I’ve been a cop for 25 years, 10 in homicide,” SFPD Inspector John Cagney told the Chronicle. “This was terrible. They were stomping on him. They were drop kicking the guy. And he absolutely did not do anything. He’s 100 pounds — a little, tiny, disabled (polio) Asian guy.”
Last month, police caught a break in the nearly two-year-old case: DNA evidence from a car theft in Washington matched evidence from the crime scene, leading investigators to 21-year-old Joseph Stull of Idaho. During questioning, Stull reportedly implicated himself in or confessed to the crime, providing explicit details of the beating and pointed the finger at 21-year-old David Peters of Stockton as one of his conspirators.
Both were booked into San Francisco County Jail, and pled not guilty on November 2 to charges of murder, second-degree robbery, inflicting injury on an elderly or dependent adult likely to cause great bodily injury, and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury. And now, the third man in the video has been arrested, police say, identifying the suspect as 22-year-old Anthony Gibson-Brum.
According to Bay City News, Gibson-Brum was arrested Wednesday in the case, but "There were no other details immediately available on how Gibson-Brum was taken into custody." The Ex reports that he, too, "was booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of murder, robbery, assault with force likely to create great bodily injury, and influencing injury on an elder likely to create great bodily injury."
According to the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, all three of the suspects remain in custody, with bail set at $5 million for each man.
KRON 4 reports that Gibson-Brum's arraignment has been scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, Stull and Peters aren't expected to return to court until January 11, for a pre-hearing conference.
Previously: Suspects Arrested In Fatal Beating Of 67-Year-Old Disabled Homeless Man