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Montgomery County authorities have charged Brady Ebert, a former guitarist for the Grammy-winning Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile, with attempted murder after they said he struck William Yates, the 79-year-old father of the band’s lead singer Brendan Yates, with his car in Silver Spring, Maryland. Police said officers responding to a Sunday report about a pedestrian being struck found William Yates injured in a front yard.
Charging documents say Yates’ family reported that Ebert—described as a neighbor who had parted ways with the band several years earlier—hit him with a car. According to the documents, Erin Gerber told authorities that she and her husband were getting their children out of their car when Ebert arrived driving up honking and yelling obscenities, then drove into her father.
The documents also describe video footage obtained from a neighbor. They say the footage showed Ebert driving a gold Buick LeSabre and swerving toward William Yates but missing him. Investigators wrote that after the miss, William Yates threw a rock at Ebert’s vehicle and Gerber dragged her 3-year-old son onto the lawn to avoid being hit.
Investigators said Ebert then turned sharply into Yates’ driveway and struck William Yates as he tried to run away, and then drove across the lawn and left. Charging documents further state that William Yates told a detective that after he was injured and on the ground, Ebert returned, yelled that he “deserved it,” and drove off again.
In court records cited by the Associated Press, Ebert, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault. At a bond hearing Thursday, Ebert appeared via video and called William Yates a “maniac” after asking the judge to watch surveillance footage that he said would “contradict” the authorities’ narrative of what happened, according to reporting by The Baltimore Banner.
Prosecutor Dominic Plantamura told the judge that the footage shows it was a “clearly targeted attack,” and said Yates was lucky he wasn’t injured more seriously. According to Plantamura, William Yates was injured so badly that a bone stuck out of one leg.
Ebert’s attorney, John Costello, acknowledged Ebert’s contentious history with his former bandmate but argued that “That does not, in this instance, warrant extra detention.” Costello’s office declined to comment to the Associated Press, and the judge ordered Ebert held without bond.
Turnstile said it cut ties with Ebert in 2022, describing the decision as being made “in response to a consistent pattern of harmful behavior.” In the band’s statement, Turnstile said it set a boundary after Ebert began threatening violence and that it did not address the issue publicly to protect his privacy, adding that threats escalated in recent months and that there was “a physical attack” on Brendan Yates’ father this week.
The band said it was “grateful that Mr. Yates survived, has successfully undergone surgery, and we’re hoping for the best possible outcome in his recovery,” and that it has “no language left for Brady.”