Brady Ebert, the founding Turnstile guitarist who split with the band in 2022, was arrested on Tuesday. Ebert, 33, is in custody and charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault. A warrant was issued on Monday and served on Tuesday. His bail/bond review is scheduled for this afternoon.
The Baltimore Banner reports that Ebert is accused of intentionally hitting 79-year-old William Yates with his car. William is the father of Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates, Ebert's former bandmate. Responding to a call, police in Silver Spring, Maryland found William Yates in his front yard with "trauma to his lower extremities." Police claim that Ebert showed up outside Yates' home, honked his horn, yelled obscenities, and ran Yates over.
Police say that they have a video of the attack, which the Banner article details. Reportedly, the video shows William Yates warning his daughter and her husband that Ebert was coming, then backing up in the driveway and throwing a rock at Ebert's car. Ebert allegedly backed up in the driveway and then accelerated forward, hitting Yates as he tried to run away. William reportedly told police that the family has had "several previous incidents" with Ebert since Ebert was fired from Turnstile, including a recent moment where Ebert narrowly missed hitting the elder Yates with his car. William also tells police that Ebert returned to the scene to yell that William "deserved it" as he waited for medical assistance. You can read the Banner's full account here.
Ebert grew up in suburban Maryland with Brendan Yates, and they formed Turnstile together in 2010. The circumstances of Ebert's departure from the band remain mysterious; the band won't talk about it publicly. Ebert recently launched a new Baltimore hardcore band called the S.E.T., and their debut EP Self Evident Truth came out last month. But before the EP's release, the other S.E.T. members kicked Ebert out of the band after Ebert made inflammatory social-media comments about Turnstile, including allegations of mishandling funds collected at a benefit concert. Last month, Ebert formed yet another band called the Experience and posted practice videos on Instagram.
UPDATE: Turnstile have shared a statement about the situation with Rolling Stone:
Turnstile cut ties with Brady Ebert in 2022 in response to a consistent pattern of harmful behavior affecting himself, the band, and the community. After exhausting every available resource to support his access to help and recovery, a boundary ultimately had to be set when healthy communication was no longer possible and he began threatening violence.
In the years since, his baseless tirades have continued in public. We never addressed it. We chose to protect his privacy and the circumstances around his departure, even when he did nothing to be deserving of that protection. Over the past few months, his threats only escalated further.
This past week, that violence led to a physical attack when Brady went to the house of Brendan’s parents and used his vehicle to run over Brendan’s father, causing severe physical trauma. We are grateful that Mr. Yates survived, has successfully undergone surgery, and we’re hoping for the best possible outcome in his recovery.
We have no language left for Brady.
Please respect our privacy in this time.
Rolling Stone points out that according to Maryland judiciary records, shortly before Ebert's dismissal from the band, four people filed "peace orders," a kind of restraining order, against him. Guitar World reported that one of those people was Turnstile drummer Daniel Fang. All four of the orders were rejected due to "no statutory basis for relief" in a hearing the day before Ebert's removal from the band was announced. Ebert appeared to reference the situation in recent comments posted on Instagram. "Also, my friends filed a restraining order," he wrote. "And guess what, they had two lawyers with them. I showed up to court by myself, and the judge denied the restraining order because they were not able to meet the requirements."
