Chicago teen charged as serial murderer: ‘Difficult to comprehend’ six killings
Chicago Police announced five murder charges and four attempted murder charges against Antonio Reyes, a 21-year-old who was a teen at the time of the shootings in 2020. Reyes is in custody.
CHICAGO – A teen suspected of being a serial murderer attacked everyday people seemingly at random, city officials announced Wednesday.
Antonio Reyes, now 21, shot and killed his victims while they were going about their typical daily activities, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said at a news conference, joined by city officials including Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling.
“None of these people had ever met Antonio Reyes before, and there’s no reason to suspect Antonio Reyes had any reason to target them,” Burke said. “One victim was killed when he went to the gas station to buy a pop. ... Another victim was sitting in a parked car with a friend on Palm Sunday afternoon. ... Another victim’s only crime was taking his family to buy a new puppy one afternoon.”
Reyes is charged with six counts of murder. The assaults all happened in 2020 on the city’s Southwest Side. He also has been charged with four counts of attempted murder. Three of those victims were children ages 3 to 9, Snelling said.
“It’s sad,” Burke said. “It’s sad to think about a 17-year-old committing serial murders over the course of nine months.”
Chicago police charged Reyes on Tuesday and announced details of the case Wednesday. The newly announced victims were all males, ages 16, 20, 21, 31 and 31, Snelling said.
Reyes has been in police custody since 2021 on a separate murder charge, Snelling said. While in custody, Reyes also tried to kill his cellmate with a shank, Burke said.
Major breaks in the case, according to Chief of Detectives Antionette Ursitti, came when police were able to link a .40-caliber handgun they recovered to multiple shootings as well as link Reyes’ “fairly significant” social media footprint to the crimes.
Snelling celebrated the investigative work it took to link Reyes to the murders.
“Not once have these detectives forgotten why they do this job,” he said. “They investigated these cases for more than four years in the memory of the victims and the family members of these victims and also our community members who have had to suffer through this trauma.”
The city’s top cop was also aghast at what he said was “the level of disregard this offender had toward human life.”
"These were six lives that were brutally taken," Snelling said. “It's difficult to comprehend how anyone could easily take someone’s life and especially so many in one year. ... Who knows how many he may have been responsible for?”
Michael Loria is a national reporter on the Paste BN breaking news desk. Contact him at mloria@usatoday.com, @mchael_mchael or on Signal at (202) 290-4585.