Brooklyn Actor Kills Mom With Samurai Sword

Actor Michael Brea (Via BelFilm)

Actor Michael Brea is currently undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Kings County Hospital after fatally stabbing his own mother with a samurai sword early this morning in their Prospect Heights apartment. Neighbors say they heard Brea, known for his role in the TV show "Ugly Betty" and as a dancer in the movie "Step Up: 3D," (though he is not listed on IMDB) shouting passages from the Bible around 1:30 a.m. in their building at 501 Park Place in Brooklyn. "I hear the brother chasing her [his mother] through the house and he's just saying a bunch of like [Bible] passages like, 'Repent, Repent, Repent,'" neighbor Gregory Clare told WPIX. "I heard him chasing her through the house and I hear a loud scream and so I have my father call the cops, call 911."

55-year-old Yannick, Brea's mother, was pronounced dead on the scene, her body hacked, stabbed and decapitated in another room. Brea, 31, was reportedly violent toward police and had to be subdued with a taser. One neighbor said, "I had just dozed off to go to sleep and then I woke up to somebody screaming. It sounded like lady's voice and after I while I just didn't hear the woman's voice again."

Brea, a Hatian-American native New Yorker, reportedly did not give any previous indication that he was mentally ill; neighbors say he and his mother were "quiet people." He once told BelFilm in an interview, "I remember growing up and my mother was always feeding people who were less fortunate. My parents [Marcel and Yannick] raised me to always share and to give charity in the name of God!" He and his brother also owned a Subway restaurant in Brooklyn, and two Thanksgivings ago he gave out 300 turkey foot-long sandwiches for free.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in News on November 23, 2010 10:39 AM

Comments [rss]

Ranah Williams

What the hell does religion or the bible or the quran have to do with a mentally ill man who clearly had a psychotic episode mixed in with some hallucinations and delusions? He could have just as easily, in some weird delusion thought that evil aliens had taken over her body. And in thinking so, thought he had to defend himself. I find that anti religion people are more obsessed with religion than religious people are. If anyone thinks that any amount of religious fanaticism can cause a man to hack his mother to pieces, then you need to get acquainted with something called the DSM IV. Because hacking your mother is not something someone sane (religious or nonreligious) does.

HD

This murder is very upsetting. Imagine spitting out phrases from the bible and beheading your parent? This young man is surely mentally ill and fixated by the Bible. His mind can't tell what is reality and what is not. I truly believe that his personality is bordering on the psychotic and he probably has schizophrenic tendencies.

I pray that he gets the help that he needs and his family realizes that he needs psychiatric help.

I HOPE THAT HIS MOTHER RESTS IN PEACE.

jgerman

To correct the author of this article he used a Freemason Sword he was a low level mason and took the sword from the masonic lodge in brooklyn I dont know where they got samurai sword from.

Ranah Williams

Is this true? I heard some speculation that this was some type of initiation. But I haven't read anything in the news validating that.

BettyDavis

He looks HOT ! A little cross eyed but still hot.

Did he have any clothes on when he hacked her ?

Ranah Williams

LMAO.

Potty Boy

almost spit out my coffee

CaptSwan05

I don't think they are casting stones it's just they are saying something is wrong with the guy for hacking up his mother and Jesus was not the motivator behind it. Even Satan knows the scriptures and the guy sitting there quoting them while he is killing his mother is insane. Something was wrong with him. He allowed something to talk to him that was not of the Godly nature. No one is judging him just stating the facts. He killed someone and if he doesn't find forgiveness in Jesus then he will have to pay for the consequences.

Cannibal

"No one is judging him just stating the facts. " (your reply)

"ITS CLEAR HE HAD A DEMONIC SPIRIT OVERTAKE HIM....

THE QUARAN SURE ISNT THE WAY EITHER......YOU KEEP BELIEVING THAT AND U MAY DO THE SAME LIKE THAT GUY MICHEAL BREA....CHRIST IS THE WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE!!....SEEK HIM FIRST BEFORE U JUDGE AND CAST STONES!!"

It's a 'fact' that he was possessed by demonic spirits?

It's a 'fact' that 'Quraran sure isnt the way'?

It's a 'fact' that Christ is 'the way, truth and life"

A fact is something that is true. And my casting stones comment was more of a hypothetical one, like if I say I believe in christ does that give me the right to literally throw rocks at someone or just attack them verbally? I want to know what I'm allowed to do. Knowumsayin?

Losano

Of course, u guys are going to blame it on the Bible. But this is the consequence of the of the money through fame. Satan will give you with one hand and take back with the other hand. The Lord Jesus Christ said: "THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL". Satan does not give anything for free, for he always ask for blood sacrifice.

Cannibal

Oh goody more religious nuts!! Don't get all stabby now!

skybeard

I wanted to introduce to you Michael L Brea, a young Haitian-American murderer who just killed his mother but to call him just an murderer would be an insult.

You may have seen Michael L Brea on the hit TV Series Ugly Betty starring America Ferrera and Vanessa Williams.

Michael also stars as one of the dancers in the upcoming Hollywood movie Step Up 3-D.

If you've ever eaten at a Subway Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, the one on 1709 Broadway, then you've been to a Restaurant owned my Michael L Brea because he is also an entrepreneur.

Michael L Brea is well known for giving away FREE turkey sandwiches on Thanksgiving. His Haitian mother, Yanick, thought him a thing or two about giving...

Perhaps you've seen him on a poster or a billboard for the Coca Cola Full Throttle Energy Drink.

Speaking of energy drink...

I don't know if Coca Cola's Full Throttle Energy Drink is the same as FLANM in Haiti but I do know that FLANM, the Energy Drink in Haiti, is a Coca Cola product

Losano

Stop thinking like Sarah Palin; at least you can read, right?

Go take your dictionary and tell the definition of the word “murder".

Cannibal

I think you need to study a dictionary.... or take some grammar lessons maybe?

Knarf

This isn't Prospect Heights, but Crown Heights. Washington is the border.

binbrooklyn

I pity religion as much as the next educated elite, but where religion gets sane people to insane things, this tragedy was clearly set in motion by paranoid hallucinations. It would have been something. Only Haldol would have helped that.

stretchman

That is Boney M, right?

Wza

He's no Samurai Jack, I'll tell you what..

Cannibal

His eyebrows say everything.

::: shudder :::

Oh Almighty Walrus King

Werner Herzog predicts the future, via Aeschylus. Oy.

allahdaballa

There's only one thing that will make you kill your own family members: The Bible.

Alydia

And you allahdaballa are just plain CRAZY...I can see the Koran causing muslims to kill other people and they DO like to behead..but you are out of touch with what the Bible teaches. It is not violence.."Love thy neighbor as thyself". A little knowledge is a dangerous thing allahdaballa. Read the New Testament..you might learn a thing or two about the differences in Christianity and the satanic Islam!

CYNT

THANK U FOR THAT ALYDIA!!

CYNT

DONT BLAME THE WORD(THE BIBLE) FOR HIS ACTIONS...ITS CLEAR HE HAD A DEMONIC SPIRIT OVERTAKE HIM....

THE QUARAN SURE ISNT THE WAY EITHER......YOU KEEP BELIEVING THAT AND U MAY DO THE SAME LIKE THAT GUY MICHEAL BREA....CHRIST IS THE WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE!!....SEEK HIM FIRST BEFORE U JUDGE AND CAST STONES!!

jibbly

Hey, Zuul called and asked if you're the gatekeeper. Also if you wanted to do happy hour with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig.

cmdrogogov

G

E

T

O

U

T

!

CYNT

U GET OFF!

Cannibal

So since you found Christ does that give you the right to 'cast stones'?

does Christ say you have to have your caps lock on all the time?

Guest

Or the Quran.

lilayame

OMG I totally worked with this guy on Step Up 3D.

LaliP

who's this michael brea? he's not in imdb. and i've seen every episode of ugly betty.

anyway, how awful!!!! that poor woman. i hope she went quickly and was spared a lot of pain.