George Bereska, Jr., was arrested on August 7 and charged with first-degree murder with a firearm for shooting his husband, 66-year-old Benjamin Renwick, in their Florida home on August 6.
The shooting happened around 9:41 p.m., when the Boynton Beach Police Department says it received a call from a number — later identified as Renwick’s — and heard “moaning and the sound of a single gunshot, followed by silence,” according to an arrest report obtained by West Palm Beach NBC affiliate WPTV.
Two minutes later, police received a call from Bereska, saying he and his husband had gotten into a “very bad argument.” He told the police dispatcher that he shot his husband in the chest. The dispatcher directed him to render first aid, to which Bereska responded, “He’s dead.”
When officers arrived at the couple’s house, Renwick was naked, on the kitchen floor, covered in blood, with several gunshot wounds. Police found three shell casings in the home — one in the living room and two in the kitchen — and a Taurus firearm on top of the dining room table.
Detectives wrote in the arrest report that no furniture had been displaced, no items were in disarray, and there were no signs of a physical altercation.
An arrest report claims Bereska was seated on a couch in a room. Police took him into custody for questioning.
Bereska said he had “been in a blackout” since 6 p.m. and did not remember anything that happened. He claimed to have been intoxicated and did not know why he was at the police station.
At another point during the interrogation, Bereska reportedly asked what his bond would be. He requested to use the restroom, and when he got up, police noted that he did not show any signs of being unsteady on his feet or having any problem following directions. He also had no injuries to his body nor blood on his clothing.
Bereska appeared in court on the morning of August 7, and was denied bond. He is currently being held at the Palm Beach County Jail.
Bereska has a prior criminal record in Maryland. He was indicted in Calvert County for second-degree sexual assault in conjunction with a 12-year-old boy in June and July of 1995. He pled down the charge to a third-degree sexual offense, reports WPTV.
Acquaintances of the couple expressed disbelief over the shooting.
“It’s just shocking that anybody would do that, first of all, but that it would happen so close to us, it’s crazy,” Robin Tamburr, who was visiting her father, who lives next to the couple’s home, told WPBF.
Tamburr noted the couple was quiet and largely kept to themselves, but said they “seemed like a regular, normal couple.”
“I’m telling you, it’s really, we are all shocked and can’t really believe it,” Julie Aldrich, a friend of Renwick and Bereska, told West Palm Beach CBS affiliate WPEC.
John Harvey, a member of the American Legion, a veterans group with a local chapter in Boynton Beach, which Renwick was an active member of, told WPEC, “There’s gonna be a lot of devastated people because Ben was very active in Post 164 for veterans, and this is gonna tear people up.”
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