Bail in New Year’s Eve double homicide denied
Detectives: Suspect says the two male victims were brothers.
A 26-year-old man charged with killing two men in a Boynton Beach neighborhood on New Year’s Eve was denied bail Monday morning by a Palm Beach County circuit judge.
Joseph Bruny Jr., of Boynton Beach, was arrested Sunday and faces two charges of first-degree murder with a firearm and a charge of armed robbery with a firearm.
Bruny’s family was at the courthouse but declined to speak with The Palm Beach Post.
The victims remain unidentified, with police identifying them only as two males.
Bruny told detectives that he sells marijuana and the two men were his clients. Bruny said he didn’t know their real names, but said they were brothers.
About a month ago, Bruny said he “fronted” the brothers approximately a quarter-pound of marijuana, which is valued at about $700, according to the police report.
After the brothers reportedly failed to pay Bruny, he went to the house at Northwest Third Avenue and Northwest Second Street in the Boynton Hills neighborhood off West Boynton Beach Boulevard to confront them, the police report said.
Bruny told police he could tell the younger brother had a gun in his pocket, so Bruny drew his gun from his waistband. After taking a handgun and wallet from the younger brother’s pocket, Bruny allegedly pushed the man up against a wall.
According to the report, Bruny said the younger brother told the older brother to “shoot him.” Then the older brother reportedly pulled a submachine gun from inside his sweatshirt. Bruny then started to shoot at the men, according to the report.
Detectives said that there were multiple wounds to each of the men and it appeared as though all the shots were entered from their rear.
Even though the double shooting took place at 1:30 in the afternoon, several peo- ple living immediately next to the house said they heard and saw nothing.
Witnesses inside the house, one of whom called 911, said they heard the confrontation from inside. They said they heard Bruny yelling at the men about something to do with money, according to the report.
After Boynton Beach police cordoned off the home, and as word of the shooting spread, dozens of neighbors began lining up at the yellow crime scene tape barring people from entering the area. Cars with onlookers began lining the streets.
At least some knew who the victims were: A short way from the house, a distraught young man repeatedly punched his car and a woman warned people to stay away. “We are grieving,” she said.
Crime scene technicians and the medical examiner arrived by 3 p.m., joining more than six uniformed police officers. Technicians spent most of their time on the carport, which was hidden from public view with draped sheets and plywood.
The dead are the 99th and 100th homicide victims in Palm Beach County in 2017, according to a Palm Beach Post database. Eleven of the killings took place inside Boynton Beach city limits.