One sufferer had long past to a fuel station to shop for a soda. Any other used to be sitting in a automotive with a pal. A 3rd used to be taking his 3 kids to shop for a pet.
Prosecutors mentioned this week {that a} Chicago guy, Antonio Reyes, fatally shot six other folks within the town over a nine-month duration in 2020, starting when he used to be 16 years previous.
In all however one of the vital circumstances, Mr. Reyes looked as if it would haven’t any connection to his sufferers, and used to be concentrated on “entire strangers,” the Cook dinner County state’s lawyer, Eileen O’Neill Burke, mentioned in an interview on Thursday.
“Apparently he used to be simply doing it for the joys of it — to homicide other folks, time and again,” she mentioned.
Mr. Reyes, now 21, has been in a Cook dinner County prison since he used to be arrested in December 2020 and charged with one of the vital murders. Prosecutors mentioned on Wednesday that he have been charged with 5 further murders and 4 tried murders, all going on in 2020.
The police mentioned Mr. Reyes have been related to the killings via shell casings from a .40-caliber handgun, social media posts and different proof. Mr. Reyes has additionally been charged with the use of a shank to check out to kill his cellmate in prison, Ms. Burke mentioned.
Mr. Reyes’s attorney didn’t in an instant reply to a request for touch upon Thursday. Mr. Reyes used to be arraigned on 5 fees of homicide and 4 fees of tried homicide on Tuesday and pleaded now not in charge, the state’s lawyer’s place of work mentioned.
He used to be being held with out bail on a prior price of homicide within the killing of Luis Davalos Garcia, 26, on June 24, 2020, the place of work mentioned. He’s waiting for trial if that’s the case.
Mr. Reyes knew simplest one among his sufferers, Damian Duran, who used to be fatally shot throughout a drug deal on Would possibly 1, 2020, prosecutors mentioned. Mr. Reyes used to be affiliated with the Latin Kings gang, however not one of the killings gave the look to be attached to his gang standing, prosecutors mentioned.
“It’s unhappy to take into accounts a 17-year-old committing serial murders over the process 9 months — what number of people had been taken,” Ms. Burke mentioned at a information convention with the Chicago police on Wednesday.
In a single apparently random assault, on Nov. 8, 2020, prosecutors mentioned, Mr. Reyes fatally shot Jose Martinez, 31, whilst Mr. Martinez used to be in a automotive, taking his 3 kids, ages 3, 7 and 9, to shop for a pet.
Mr. Reyes had pushed as much as Mr. Martinez and “flashed a gang signal” after which drove across the block two times prior to he fatally shot him, in line with court docket data.
Larry Snelling, the superintendent of the Chicago police, mentioned Mr. Reyes have been charged with tried homicide for having shot on the kids.
“This speaks to the extent of overlook this perpetrator had towards human lifestyles,” Superintendent Snelling mentioned on the information convention on Wednesday. “It’s tough to appreciate how someone may just simply take any person’s lifestyles, particularly such a lot of in 365 days.”
He mentioned the police would proceed to analyze whether or not Mr. Reyes may were interested by further acts of violence.
“We’ve got six lives and who is aware of what number of he will have been liable for?” Superintendent Snelling mentioned.
