Attention at a news conference today focused on a suspect in a quadruple homicide case being an undocumented person who had been in custody and been released previously.
The issue of undocumented persons involved in crime is part of a national debate, with local authorities not ready to say what should be done, but just that something should be done.
“We can’t go on this way, something needs to be corrected so the system works properly,” said Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve seen now, twice or more times than that, that the system did not work properly.”
Gorman said it was for the politicians to decide what to do about the system, but something needed to be done.
The suspect in the quadruple homicide, Pablo Serrano-Vitorino, also was wanted for questioning in a fifth murder that occurred in New Florence, Mo., about 170 miles away. He was captured in Montgomery County, Mo., in the early morning hours Wednesday.
The suspect was a Mexican national who was not in America legally, and who had been deported previously in 2004, according to authorities. He had been held in the Wyandotte County Jail in July of 2015 on domestic battery, and also had been stopped by Johnson County law enforcement authorities.
The Kansas City, Kan., Municipal Court dockets and jail records showed he had been held at the Wyandotte County Jail for less than a day in July in the domestic battery case.
Police Chief Terry Zeigler said if there is a felony case, and there is a question about a person’s status, federal immigration authorities are contacted. Traffic citations are often misdemeanors. Serrano-Vitorino was the victim of an auto theft in April and came into contact with the police then, Zeigler said. Both in April and the domestic battery case later, a misdemeanor crime, there was no reason to run his information at that time, he said.
The Sheriff’s Department did send a request to immigration authorities during the hold for the domestic battery, according to Gorman. There is usually a four-hour limit for ICE to respond, and if they do not respond, the person is released. Overland Park also had requested a check of this person’s status and immigration authorities sent it to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department instead, according to Gorman.
“Everybody makes mistakes, and ICE has been very helpful to us when we call on them for assistance,” Zeigler said.
If the local authorities receive a response from immigration authorities that a person is in the nation illegally, usually local judges would issue a court order, Gorman said.
Gorman said they have just begun to work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to trace the gun that Serrano-Vitorino had. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, he was known to have had an AK-47.
This morning, according to information from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Serrano-Vitorino was arrested. He was found lying face down in a ditch at the intersection of two highways, according to the highway patrol, with a rifle near him.
Serrano-Vitorino has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder. When officers arrived at the 3000 block of South 36th Street late Monday night, Gorman said they found inside two people who had been shot and killed, on the couch. A third person was alive but died shortly after their arrival, he said. A fourth person, a little distance from the house, had also been shot and was taken to the hospital, but died shortly afterward, he said.
The suspect had already fled the scene, Gorman said. His vehicle was located along I-70 in Montgomery County, Mo., about 170 miles away. He was arrested early this morning in Montgomery County.
Gorman said Montgomery County was filing charges against the suspect.
“Wyandotte County is prepared to take custody of the person of Pablo Serrano,” he said. “We’re prepared to proceed with our criminal charges against him.”
So far, there is no agreement between Montgomery County and Wyandotte County on who will try the defendant first, he said.
Gorman declined to state a possible motive in the case. The suspect lived next door to some of the victims, he said.
He also said that he is waiting to have all the facts before making a decision on whether the death penalty would be sought.
