The police said that Brenton Clarke, 36, of Long Island, N.Y., used a metal rod and a wooden stick to attack four homeless people in what they said was an unprovoked assault.

A man wielding a stick killed two people in Miami in an “unprovoked” attack on four homeless people, law enforcement officials said. The suspect was taken into custody following the beatings, which police say were carried out early Thursday.

The man is accused of attacking four people experiencing homelessness in Downtown Miami early Thursday morning, killing two of them.