A Mexican national suspected of committing five homicides in Kansas and Missouri is now in custody.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed that Pablo Serrano-Vitorino was in custody in Montgomery County, Mo. He was wanted for questioning and charged with four counts of murder after a quadruple homicide in Kansas City, Kan., and another death in Missouri.
“Serrano-Vitorino is considered armed and dangerous, and may be armed with an AK-47,” the highway patrol had said. “Use extreme caution if Serrano-Vitorino is encountered. Please do not approach or attempt to contact this individual.”
U.S. immigration officials said the man, a Mexican national, was in the country illegally. He had been deported from the U.S. in April 2004, the Associated Press reported, but illegally re-entered the country on an unknown date.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) previously deported Pablo Serrano-Vitorino, an illegal alien from Mexico, in April 2004, based on final orders of removal from a federal immigration judge,” ICE spokesman Gail Montenegro told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Mr. Serrano-Vitorino illegally re-entered the United States on an unknown date.”
The Post-Dispatch reported that Serrano-Vitorino was arrested shortly after midnight near Interstate 70, not far from where his truck found abandoned Tuesday morning, after confronting a person with gun.
“He looked exhausted,” Highway Patrol Sgt. James Hedrick said.
The motives behind the five deaths Serrano-Vitorino was sought in connection with were not yet known. In Kansas City, where Serrano-Vitorino lived, he is thought to have killed four of his neighbors, including Michael Capps, 41, and brothers Austin Harter, 29, and Clint Harter, as the Kansas City Star reported.
“This was a random act,” Marlena Kyle, an aunt of the two brothers, told the Star. “They were innocents.”
Clint Harter’s wife Ruth told KHSB that the couple was approaching their eighth wedding anniversary, and that they are expecting another child.
“I will keep his memory alive,” she said. My girls will know who their dad was, and how much he loved them.”
The owner of the home where Serrano-Vitorino allegedly killed four was not aware of any argument that may have led to the attack.
“It looked like he just stepped in the door and blew them away,” Steve Manthe told the Associated Press.
The victim killed in New Florence, Mo., was identified as Randy Nordman, 49. He was killed at his home not far from where Serrano-Vitorino’s truck was found.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Justin Wm. Moyer
