NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Nashville pastor is pushing for changes to mental health policies after his brother was brutally murdered. Metro police say 53-year-old Howie Bryant’s roommate beat him to death.

Pastor N. Curtis Bryant explained it was a phone call he never could have prepared for. Early in the morning, a chaplain with the Metro Nashville Police Department called with news about his brother.

“Well, I got a 3, 3:30 am phone call, and you know when you hear that phone at that time of the morning, it’s never good,” remembered Pastor Byrant, “He told me that my brother had been beaten to death.”

On Tuesday, Metro police arrested 55-year-old James Cairy on a criminal homicide warrant issued following to death of Howie. The incident happened inside his Neill Avenue Apartment early Monday morning. Witnesses reported hearing a verbal and physical altercation between the two around 4 in the morning. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Howie’s death a homicide by blunt force trauma.

“He {Cairy} told the owner of the house that he had just beaten him mercilessly, and he was let unconscious, didn’t get any immediate care, and consequently he died from those injuries,” Pastor Bryant said.

Pastor Bryant explained his brother had been living in a mental health housing facility for the past 20 years. The goal was to let Howie live on his own and live life independently.

“It saddens me because housing like this for people with mental health challenges, you want to provide safe, decent, and affordable units. Safe and decent we believed, but consequently, my brother died in that unit,” Pastor Bryant explained. FULL STORY HERE