STAPLETON — An ex-con out on parole since last October has been charged with the murder of two brothers outside a Staten Island gas station, police said.
Wayne Thomas, 30, of Stapleton, was arrested Thursday and charged for the shooting deaths of Terrell Ford, 27, and Justin Ford, 28, police said.
On Sunday at about 2:56 a.m., police found the brothers with gunshot wounds a block away from their home at Targee Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, police said.
"These streets took my brothers," Michael Ford, a third brother, wrote on Instagram on Sunday. "I don't know how to feel right now ... I'm really sick right now."
The shooting stemmed from a fight at a nearby after-hours club that moved to a gas station, where Terrell Ford followed to help ease tensions, according to the Staten Island Advance and the New York Times.
Justin Ford, who just finished a shift at the Lulu Car Service, rushed across the street to help his brother and Thomas shot them with a 9mm gun, according to the Advance and prosecutors.
Terrell Ford was hit in the torso and taken to Richmond University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Justin Ford was shot in the back and taken to Staten Island University Hospital North and pronounced dead, police said.
Thomas' lawyer, Kevin McKernan, said his client pleaded not guilty in court and maintained his innocence.
"My client was saddened by the fact that two men were shot and killed, but we had nothing to do with it," McKernan said.
"We hired an investigator and we're looking into the circumstance of what happened, but we had nothing to do with it."
Justin Ford rapped under the name SL Blicky and wrote songs about growing up on Staten Island and taking the ferry.
"He was just a kid full of life," a friend, who didn't want to give his name, said outside a memorial for the brothers on Vanderbilt Avenue. "He could turn something to good."
Thomas was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon at his arraignment on Friday and is being held without bail, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.
Thomas was previously arrested for manslaughter and was imprisoned in 2007 for the crime. He'd been out on parolee since last October, according to the Department of Corrections.
