The suspect in the shooting deaths of five people in Kansas and Missouri was in the country illegally after being kicked out in 2004. It is not clear when the Mexican national, Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, reentered the country, but he was arrested and detained last September and — due to an immigration snafu — promptly released. Late Monday night, Serrano-Vitorino allegedly shot four men at his neighbor’s home in Kansas City, Kan. He is also suspected of shooting another man about 170 miles away in a rural Missouri house.
NBC News reported:
“Mr. Serrano-Vitorino was fingerprinted Sept. 14, 2015 at the Overland Park Municipal Court, which generated the issuance of an ICE detainer,” the federal immigration agency said in a statement. “Further records checks indicate that ICE erroneously issued the detainer to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, instead of to the Overland Park Municipal Court. Mr. Serrano-Vitorino was not in Johnson County custody on Sept. 14, 2015. ICE regrets the error.”
Overland Park is in Johnson County, and the circumstances of the fingerprinting at the municipal court weren’t immediately clear.
Fox 4’s Kathy Quinn reported that one of the victims left behind a pregnant wife and young daughter.
Clint Hart and his brother Austin were among the four shot to death in the 3000 block of South 36th Street late Monday night.
Clint’s wife, Ruth, tells FOX 4 that she is 8-months pregnant and has been getting lots of support from her family, especially her mother. But Ruth adds that last 24-hours have been sleepless. She says her two-year-old daughter has kept her going along with organizing a way to help with funeral expenses.
“I just want to know why Clint was here at the wrong time. I mean 10 minutes and he could have been home and none of this would have happened, and my girls would have had their dad,” said Ruth Hart.
Serrano-Vitorino was charged Tuesday with four counts of first-degree murder for the Kansas City killings.
Authorities took him into custody near Interstate 70 and Highway 19 in Montgomery County, FOX2 reported.
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