Massive manhunt underway for man suspected in 5 fatal shootings
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Dozens of officers searched farmland in central Missouri on Tuesday for a man suspected of killing a man at a nearby house just hours after fatally shooting four people at his neighbor's home about 170 miles away in Kansas.
Two helicopters, police dogs and at least one SWAT team were helping look for Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino near New Florence, said Capt. John Hotz, a Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman. The patrol said he was considered dangerous and may be armed with an AK-47.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they previously deported Serrano-Vitorinio: "an illegal alien from Mexico, in April 2004 ... Mr. Serrano-Vitorino illegally re-entered the United States on an unknown date," CBS affiliate KCTV reported.
Several schools in the area were placed on lockdown, with officers stationed at the buildings.
Serrano-Vitorino, of Kansas City, Kansas, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder late Tuesday afternoon in the Kansas killings, Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said. Gorman's office listed Serrano-Vitorino's age as 40, while police said he was 36.
The search for him began late Monday when four men were shot at the home in Kansas City, Kansas. One of the men managed to call police before he died, but it's unclear how the men knew each other or what may have prompted the shooting, Kansas City police officer Thomas Tomasic said.
"They located a party in the yard with a gunshot wound and another party on the front porch. Then, upon further investigation, they located two subjects in the house that were deceased from apparent gunshot wounds," KCK Officer Cameron Morgan said, reports KCTV.
Police have confirmed the identities of three of the four victims as brothers Austin and Clint Harter and Michael Capps, KCTV reports.
"We've spoken to all the neighbors back there, and they're all kind of related. They had some information, for us, but they all pretty much heard and saw the same things," Morgan said.
Residents are on edge.
"Everybody's on edge. We're praying the guy's caught in the daylight, 'cause if not, it's gonna be twice as bad at night," one resident told KCTV.
"There have been cops everywhere, flying above, holding rifles," another resident shared.
As he watched the investigation, resident Rick Bethel was worried the murder involved his family.
"My cousin lives west about 200 yards where the guy Randy got killed. I thought it might have been my cousin, but it was Randy," Bethel said.
The manhunt shifted Tuesday, when a truck Serrano-Vitorino was believed to be driving was found about 7 a.m. abandoned along Interstate 70 in central Missouri, about 80 miles west of St. Louis.
About 25 minutes later, sheriff's deputies responded to a shooting about 5 miles away at a Montgomery County home along an I-70 outer road and found the body of 49-year-old occupant Randy J. Nordman, according to the patrol. Highway Patrol Lt. Paul Reinsch said a witness who called 911 reported seeing a man running from Nordman's property, launching a manhunt of that area.
Reinsch said investigators weren't aware of any connection between Serrano-Vitorino and Nordman, whose home is near his family's campground and a racetrack for remote-controlled cars.
A neighbor of Nordman's, Genevieve Kelly, said she didn't know anything had happened until she saw helicopters circling overhead. She said she didn't know Nordman well, but that she would occasionally help him with sewing.
The owner of the Kansas City home where the four men were shot said he received a call from a tenant at a neighboring house Monday night about a person lying on the porch as if he were dead. Steve Manthe said that when he was allowed into the rental home after 6 a.m. Tuesday, he saw blood on the living room couch and throughout that room, and the television still on.
"It looked like he just stepped in the door and blew them away," said Manthe, 61, who is retired from the Army.
Manthe's family spent part of Tuesday morning scrubbing blood off the front porch with bleach. Manthe, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years, said he wasn't aware of any tension between the victims and neighbors.
Neighbors who live near the small, yellow one-story home where those men were shot described the area as quiet. They said they hadn't heard gunshots the night before.
Al VanBebber, a 54-year-old mechanic who lives a few blocks away, said he knew at least one of the home's residents and described him as a "nice guy" whom he helped with car repairs and upgrades.
"It's sick," VanBebber said. "I don't know how anybody could do that, with people as nice as could be."
Audrey Ragan said one of the men who died lived across the street from her mother and always went out of his way to help neighbors. She said the man was married with a 2-year-old daughter.
"I thought, 'My God, who could do something like this? I'm just in shock," Ragan said of the shootings. "He's going to be truly, truly missed."