STATEN ISLAND — The suspect in an armed carjacking on Staten Island is also being eyed in a series of recent murders, police sources said.
Tyrell Brown, 25, allegedly carjacked a man in a Hummer at gunpoint in Mariners Harbor at 6:10 a.m. on Sunday, and took the car on a day-long joyride, eventually plowing it through a tollbooth on the Verrazano Bridge just after 1 a.m. Monday, prompting MTA officers to open fire on him.
Brown ditched the car and escaped on foot, but was caught Tuesday, police said. He was still awating arraignment as of Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Police sources said Brown was already a suspect in at least one murder on Staten Island in the past few days at the time of his arrest, and was considered to be possibly involved in another two that also took place in the borough in the past few days, sources said.
While police declined to discuss specifics of the murders, Brown is reportedly being eyed in the shooting of two men on the North Shore on Sunday, according to the Staten Island Advance.
On Sunday, police found Kuwan Collins, 40, of Vorhees Township, N.J., shot in the head in front of 367 Britton Ave. He was later pronounced dead at Staten Island University Hospital North.
Less than 10 minutes later, police found Devon Powell, 23, of Mariners Harbor dead of gunshot wounds to the neck near 86 Arlington Place, police said.
Brown's girlfriend, Chinedia Lopez, 24, who had ridden inside the stolen hummer with him, was arrested at 1:30 a.m. Monday at Lily Pond and Major avenues, prosecutors said.
She was arraigned in Stapleton Criminal Court on charges of criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle and was released without bail, prosecutors said.
