FBI: We Think We've Nabbed Missouri/Kansas Serial Killer

Perez Reed, 25, accused of fatally gunning down 6 people in alleged crime spree
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 9, 2021 8:05 AM CST

A suspected serial killer has been arrested for six deadly shootings throughout the Missouri/Kansas City area in September and October. Police say 25-year-old Perez Reed was nabbed by FBI agents on Friday after getting off a train in Independence, Mo., heading to his home in St. Louis from Kansas City, Kan., reports CNN. Investigators say Reed had a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol on him, a caliber they say matches shell casings found at the crime scenes. In a booking photo, Reed is also shown to have a crescent tattoo on his forehead; in a still photo from surveillance footage taken at the scene of two of the killings, the suspect is shown to have the same tattoo.

KMOV details the murders that Reed is accused of committing, including that of a 16-year-old girl; three women (ages 24, 25, and 49), a 35-year-old man, and a 40-year-old man. Two of those victims were said to have been killed in a "distinctive manner." In addition to those shootings, police say Reed shot a man multiple times in the chest at a St. Louis County bus stop on Sept. 12, leaving him with a permanent disability, as well as shot a 28-year-old woman in the face on Sept. 16.

Police found the latter victim at a gas station seeking assistance and followed the trail of blood back to the shooting scene. Although the victims don't appear to have known each other, Reed has admitted he knew at least one of them, and police say at least two of the shootings appear to have been connected, per FOX 2. "There was evidence that indicates that these are related," a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson said last month. "As far as right now, we cannot go into what that evidence is."

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Reed has been hit with two sets of charges: Out of the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office come counts of first-degree murder, assault, and armed criminal action. Meanwhile, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri has charged him with interstate transportation of a firearm with intent to commit a felony. In a statement, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner vows "to ensure the most important goal—that justice is brought to the many victims and their families; and the person responsible is held accountable for these heinous crimes." (More serial killer stories.)

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