HOUSE OF HORROR: Cops in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, carry out the boxed-up Freemason sword allegedly used by bit actor Michael Brea to murder his mom yesterday morning. (BENNY J. STUMBO)
TRAUMATIZED: Brooklyn mom Yannick Brea’s relatives (above) react with shock yesterday after learning her son, “Ugly Betty” actor Michael Brea, allegedly killed her with a sword in their apartment. (Paul Martinka)
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A crazed bit actor wielding an ornate Freemason sword hacked his mother to death early yesterday in their Brooklyn apartment while screaming out Bible passages and Masonic references, police and witnesses said.
“Repent! Repent! Repent!” Michael Brea, screamed at his 55-year-old mother, Yannick, during his bizarre meltdown and the subsequent bloodbath at their Prospect Heights apartment, neighbors said.
Brea, 31, who had roles in “Ugly Betty” and the movie “Step Up 3D,” was heard repeatedly through the door shouting about the “architect of the universe,” a term used by Freemasons to refer to a supreme being. Longtime family friend Sylvan Benoit confirmed that Brea was a member of the Freemasons and had been to a meeting earlier in the evening.
The Masonic sword was 3-feet long and meant for ceremonial use, police sources said.
When cops broke down the apartment door at around 2 a.m., they Tasered and arrested Brea, and charged him with murder.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric evaluation, and allegedly blurted out, “When I looked at my mother, I saw the devil.”
Brea continued ranting about Freemasons as he was wheeled out on a stretcher, repeatedly screaming, “The greatest in the universe!” said witness Sydney Clare.
Neighbors said the trouble began at around 1 a.m., when they first heard screams coming from the Park Place apartment.
“He kept chanting, ‘Repent!’ ” said Greg Clare, who lives below the Breas. “He kept asking her if she believed in Jesus Christ, if she believed in God. She was yelling, ‘Help me! Help me!’ ”
Several 911 calls, starting around 1:12 a.m., reported a domestic argument. When patrol cops arrived minutes later, they could hear Brea chanting biblical phrases behind the locked door, but there was no indication of a fight, police sources said.
A neighbor pointed out blood on the Breas’ windowsill, and police then tried numerous ways to get inside, including a fire-escape window, the sources said.
Once inside, they saw Brea gripping the sword, and a trail of blood leading to a closed door.
They retreated and called Emergency Service Unit cops, although a supervisor remained at the door and kept his eye on the suspect, which the NYPD said is standard practice.
ESU cops are “trained psychological technicians. They have additional equipment that enables them to perhaps better protect themselves,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
The ESU stormed in shortly after 2 a.m. — and found a gruesome scene, with Yannick, a Haitian immigrant, kneeling in the bathroom with multiple stab wounds to her head.
Clinton Clare, Greg’s father, said the NYPD waited too long.
“The [patrol] cops got there but they wouldn’t knock the door down,” he said.
“I heard moaning and then silence. They just kept standing there for 45 minutes. I think she’d be alive if they hadn’t taken so long.”
Yannick Brea’s family was furious with the police response.
“When I heard what happened, I went crazy,” said Yannick’s sister Gina Bumond, a nurse who lives in Flatbush.
“I heard [patrol cops] didn’t knock the door down. Are you serious? She could be alive today.”
Bumond described her sister as a loving parent devoted to her sons. Serge Marcel, 53, Yannick’s brother, said the family knew of no history of mental illness or substance abuse.
“I never knew this kid could do something like that,” he said.
It was not clear if Brea — who has no criminal record –was a Freemason, although he did own the sword for some time, sources said.
The cryptic fraternal organization, which started in the late 16th century, has about 8 million members worldwide and promotes morality and education. Several US presidents were Masons.
Neighbor Vernal Bent and his mother, Phyllis, said they heard yelling from the floor below.
“I heard a shriek and a woman yelling, ‘Help me,’ ” Bent said.
“We called 911 and we kept hearing screams and then we didn’t hear them any more. Michael was chanting biblical phrases and kept calling for Moses, Jerusalem and the ‘architect of the universe,’ ”
“I think he just snapped,” Bent said.
His mom, Phyllis, said she was friends with Yannick, who would frequently bring them traditional Haitian food.
Mustafa Nashal, who owns a deli a half-block away, said Yannick would make him her special chicken and rice a few times a week.
“She treated me like a son. She’d come in every day for five or 10 dollars of lottery tickets,” said Nashal, 33.
Yannick Brea once worked at the Marriott at the World Trade Center but left after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, neighbors said. At the time of her death, she was employed at Brooklyn’s Marriott as a housekeeper.
In addition to his acting, Michael Brea was a businessman who once owned a Subway sandwich shop in Bushwick.
A friend said that for Thanksgiving 2008, he gave hundreds of turkey subs to the needy.
But Subway’s parent corporation took back the franchise roughly a year ago because of poor performance.
Creditors had placed several liens against the business, court records show.
Michael talked about his life and goals in an article posted on BelFim.com, a Haitian Internet movie database.
“I remember growing up, and my mother was always feeding people who were less fortunate,” he wrote.
“My parents raised me to always share and to give charity in the name of GOD!”
Additional reporting by Ada Calhoun and Perry Chiaramonte