Neighbors heard screams coming from an apartment at about 1:30 a.m. (ET), according to WPIX, a local New York television station.
Responding officers found Brea, 31, in the apartment, and had to subdue him with a taser.
The body of 55-year-old Yannick Brea "was found badly hacked, decapitated and stabbed multiple times in another room."
Neighbors said "spattered blood was visible on the apartment windows," according to the Daily News.
Brea was transported to Kings County Hospital for a psychiatric exam "with a police guard assigned to him," according to the report.
The investigation is ongoing and charges are pending, police said.
According to an online biography, Brea was born in New York City to Haitian-American parents Marcel and Yannick Brea.
Before becoming an actor, Brea opened a Subway restaurant in Brooklyn in 2007, according to Belfim.com. On Thanksgiving 2008, Brea's Subway gave away 300 footlong turkey sandwiche, according to that site.
"I remember growing up my mother was always feeding people who were less fortunate," Brea reportedly said. "My parents raised me to always share and to give charity in the name of GOD!"
