US teens surrender in homeless beatings
(Associated Press)
Updated: 2006-01-16 14:28

Two South Florida teens suspected in the beatings of three homeless men turned themselves in to police Sunday, authorities said. Family attorneys negotiated the surrender of Brian Hooks, 18, and Thomas S. Daugherty, 17.

In this booking photo provided by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006, shows Brian Hooks, 18, who is suspected of being involved in the beatings of three homeless men. Hooks and Thomas Daugherty turned themselves in to the police Sunday. The two face murder charges in the death of Norris Gaynor and aggravated battery charges in the videotaped beating of Jacques Pierre. [AP Photo]

They will face murder charges in the death of Norris Gaynor and aggravated battery charges in the videotaped beating of Jacques Pierre, said Capt. Michael Gregory of the Fort Lauderdale police.

They also are suspects in the beating of a third man, Raymond Perez, 49, whose case remains under investigation, Gregory said.

The teens were in police custody pending official charges from a grand jury, Gregory said. Police also were investigating whether the two may have been involved in other beatings and if they had accomplices.

"We do know there have been other assaults of homeless in Fort Lauderdale," Gregory said.

Names of the teens' attorneys were not immediately available.

Pierre, 58, was beaten on the Fort Lauderdale campus of Florida Atlantic University. Gaynor, 45, was killed a few blocks away, and Perez, 49, was beaten in a Church-by-the-Sea garden.

It was not clear if Perez and Pierre remained hospitalized Sunday.