2 Men Slain in Clash With Black Sect Over Eviction

Two men who resisted eviction by a militant black religious sect were shot to death today outside a drug-ridden apartment complex that had just been purchased by the group, authorities said.

The slain men, Anthony Brown and Rudolph Broussard, had said they were fighting their evictions by the Yahwehs, or Hebrew Israelites, who assumed a $480,000 mortgage in buying the property Monday.

Brown and Broussard were shot after they confronted two carloads of men outside the complex, said John Riley, mayor of this predominantly black community near Miami.

After the shootings, the Opa-locka City Commission voted to condemn the five-building complex and order its residents evicted and relocated within 48 hours.

Two weeks ago, the commission refused the former owners’ offer to let the city take over the complex. Instead, it was sold to the Yahwehs, who believe that American blacks live in the land of the “white devil.”

On Wednesday, Brown was shown on television saying: “I’m going to stay here until I get an eviction notice. I don’t care what they say. They ain’t going in, it’s as simple as that.”

Broussard told family and friends the Yahwehs had entered his apartment without permission and removed furnishings.

Metro-Dade Police refused to release details on the shootings, but Riley said the two carloads of men spotted Brown and Broussard sitting on the steps in front of the building.

The two cars stopped, the men exchanged words and the shooting began, Riley said.

After the shootings, Yawheh members got on a bus and left the scene.