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Four people charged in the 2013 murder of young French street artist Bilal Berreni are suspected of being part of a violent gang that robbed tourists, artists, photographers, Wayne State University students and others who came to view the ruins around the Brewster-Douglass housing project on the city’s east side, sources familiar with the case say.
The gang, which goes by the name YBN (Young Brewster Niggas), is comprised of many youths whose parents lived in the old Brewster-Douglass project before it was closed, one source said. The suspects now live around Trumbull, west of Wayne State University.
Jasin Curtis
Sources say that an elite homicide task force made up of Detroit and Michigan State Police and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is also looking into whether the YBN gang was involved in other homicides in the neighborhood. Berreni, 23, was suspected of being robbed before he was killed.
Donald Dawkins, a spokesman for ATF in Detroit, said the homicide task force has been looking into the gang for months. He said ATF and other agencies are also focusing on other gangs on the city’s east side.
“In general, gangs are a huge concern,” Dawkins said. “The gangs are very active. They’re responsible for a series of robberies and homicides and shootings. We’re focusing on the hotspots and right now the east side is a hot spot.”
Detroit Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Woody said Chief James Craig is concerned about the gang problem in the city and "has made it his mission to disrupt and dismantle gang activity."
Donte Travis
Berreni was found shot in the head on July 29, 2013, near the Brewster-Douglass housing project on the city's east side. He was identified this past March through fingerprints.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday announced that three people, Jasin Reno Curtis, 18, Dionte Darryl Travis, 17 and Drequone Lamar Rich, 20, had been charged in the death with felony murder, armed robbery, felon in possession of a firearm and felony firearm. On Thursday, a fourth person, a 14-year-old, was charged as a juvenile.
Berrini, who had lived around the globe and gone to some of the hotspots including the Middle East, appeared to be fearless and had little concern walking around the city at any time of the day or night.
Drequone Rich
He had been going to the Brewster-Douglass projects and getting materials to build an artistic wall at the loft he was living in at Griswold and Shelby, downtown, one source said.
One of the suspects in his murder had expressed resentment that outsiders had been coming around and taking photos, treating the area as if it were a zoo, a source said.
A source said it was believed that Berrini was robbed and tried talking the robbers out of shooting him.
