The 2016 Kansas–Missouri murder spree was a March 2016 American mass shooting in which four men were shot in a killing spree in Kansas and another was shot, shortly afterward, in Missouri.[1][2]
Background
On the night of March 7, 2016, four men were shot to death with a shotgun in Kansas City, Kansas.[2] One of them managed to call police about the shooting before dying.[3] On the morning of March 8, 49-year-old Randy J. Nordman was shot to death in Montgomery County, Missouri, 170 mi (270 km) east of the site of the first shooting.[1] A truck believed to have been driven by the suspect was found five miles away along Interstate 70, and a massive manhunt for him was launched.[3] Two police helicopters and at least one SWAT team were involved in the search.[4]
Arrest and legal proceedings
On March 9, police in New Florence, Missouri, responded to reports of a man pulling a firearm on a civilian at a gas station.[2] At 12:18 a.m., suspect Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, 40, who lived next door to the four initial victims, was found at a muddy hill alongside Interstate 70 and arrested by Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeants Primm and McGinnis. No shots were fired despite him being armed.[2][5] He was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle at the time of his arrest.[1][6] He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Kansas and was jailed in Montgomery County, Missouri, with bail set at $2 million.[3] The day following the arrest, he attempted suicide by cutting himself with a safety razor. He was admitted to a local hospital and was classified to be in stable condition.[7]
On June 1, Serrano-Vitorino pleaded not guilty to the Missouri killing. The death penalty was sought in that case.[8][9] In September, his Missouri case was transferred by a Montgomery County judge to St. Louis, Missouri for trial.[10] He had previously been sentenced to two years in a California prison for making a terrorist threat and, since he was a Mexican national, had subsequently been deported from the U.S. in April 2004, but had reentered illegally again at an unspecified time.[3] Despite further run-ins with the law, including a batter conviction the previous summer, he managed to avoid deportation.[11]
On April 9, 2019, Serrano-Vitorino was found alone and unresponsive in his cell, having hanged himself. He was taken to a hospital where he later was pronounced dead.[12]
