Nationality Mexican Criminal charge Murder Killed 5 (alleged) | Motive Unknown Date apprehended 9 March 2016 | |
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Location(s) Kansas City, Kansas and Montgomery County, Missouri Weapons Kalashnikov rifle
Shotgun Residence Kansas City, Kansas, United States | ||
Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino is a Mexican illegal immigrant to the United States who is charged with murdering four men in Kansas and another shortly afterward in Missouri, in March 2016.
Contents
Background
Serrano-Vitorino, who was 36 or 40 at the time of the killings, was sentenced to two years in a California prison for making terroristic threats. He had been deported from the U.S. in April 2004 in relation to the California charge and reentered illegally again at an unspecified time. In 2014, Serrano-Vitorino was convicted in southeast Kansas of driving under the influence, but was apparently never fingerprinted.
In June 2015, Serrano-Vitorino was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge in Kansas City, Kansas. On September 14, he was fingerprinted in Overland Park, which caused the issuance of an ICE detainer for him to be deported. He had been due in court and was scheduled to pay a $146 fine for a traffic violation. However, the detainer was issued to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office instead of the Overland Park Municipal Court, where Serrano-Vitorino had been charged. As a result, Serrano-Vitorino was not deported.
At the time of the killing spree, Serrano-Vitorino was married and had two children.
Killing spree and manhunt
On the night of March 7, 2016, four men who lived next door to Serrano-Vitorino were shot to death with a shotgun in Kansas City, Kansas. One of them managed to call police about the shooting before dying. On the morning of March 8, 49-year-old Randy J. Nordman was shot to death in Montgomery County, Missouri, 170 miles east of the site of the first shooting. Serrano-Vitorino's truck was found five miles away along Interstate 70, and a massive manhunt for him was launched. Two police helicopters and at least one SWAT team was involved in the search.
On March 9, police in New Florence, Missouri responded to reports of a man pulling a firearm on a civilian at a gas station. At 12:18 a.m., Serrano-Vitorino was found at a muddy hill alongside Interstate 70 and arrested. He was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle at the time of his arrest.
Victims
Kansas:
Missouri:
Legal proceedings
Serrano-Vitorino was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Kansas. He was jailed in Montgomery County, Missouri, with bail set at $2 million.
The day following Serrano-Vitorino's arrest, he attempted suicide by cutting himself with a safety razor. He was admitted to a local hospital and was classified to be in stable condition.
On June 1, Serrano-Vitorino pleaded not guilty to the Missouri killing. The death penalty was sought in that case. In September, his Missouri case was transferred by a Montgomery County judge to St. Louis, Missouri for trial.