Chicago teen ‘serial killer’ got sexual gratification from shooting people, prosecutors say
Prosecutors on Thursday said Antonio Reyes bragged about urinating on memorials set up for his alleged victims. He was ordered to remain held at Cook County Jail.
Antonio Reyes (inset) has been linked to a string of
murders across the Gage Park, Brighton Park and Clearing neighborhoods,
including a fatal shooting in the 2600 block of West 59th Street on
March 2, 2020.
A man charged with fatally shooting six people on Chicago’s Southwest Side allegedly got sexual gratification from killing and returned to crime scenes to defile memorials for the victims, Cook County prosecutors disclosed Thursday.
Antonio Reyes, 21, was flanked by four Cook County sheriff’s deputies as he stepped into Judge Mary M. Brosnahan courtroom wearing a green jail jumpsuit, his arms and face covered in tattoos.
“Good morning, judge,” said Reyes, a gang member known on the street as “Redrum” — murder spelled backward.
He remained silent as prosecutors offered new details about killings he allegedly carried out during a spree that stretched from March until November 2020 when he was between the ages of 16 and 17.
He was already being held at the Cook County Jail on charges of murder and attempted murder when prosecutors charged him with five more killings in February. At the time, Garien Gatewood, Chicago’s deputy mayor for community safety, credited detectives’ work “to remove a serial killer from the streets.”
The new cases hinge on “admissions” Reyes made to other people about the five murders — and what he allegedly did after them.
“Defendant stated that he gets an erection when shooting people, then gets hungry,” prosecutors said, “and that he likes to return to the scene, film it, break up memorials and urinate on the memorials.”
But Kate Moriarty, Reyes’ assistant public defender , said the state’s cases are weak, arguing that the witness lists include “convicted felons” and a “career jailhouse snitch” who posed as a dead gang leader to elicit information.
Moriarty repeatedly referenced George Reyes, who pleaded guilty in December to killing a friend who was set to testify against Antonio Reyes in the initial murder case brought against him.
Court documents allege that Antonio Reyes had called George Reyes from juvenile detention and told him to “take care of” the witness, a onetime friend named Sebastian Serrano.
“The words of George Reyes are not worth the pieces of paper they’re written on,” Moriarty said, noting that he struck a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the witness’ murder.
Moriarty said George Reyes was also identified as a suspect in two of the killings prosecutors outlined Thursday but he wasn’t charged. He and Antonio Reyes aren’t related, prosecutors have said.
‘Not doing enough shootings’
Prosecutors said the earliest killing stemmed from Antonio Reyes’ frustration with his gang, the Latin Kings. He allegedly told a witness that members “were lame for not doing enough shootings” and said he was going with some Latin Saints to hunt Satan’s Disciples.
On March 2, 2020, he and another person approached Francisco Magana in the 2600 block of West 59th Street and started shooting, prosecutors said. Magana, 31, had just bought a pop from a gas station and was crossing the street when he was attacked.
Just over a month later — on April 5, 2020 — Antonio Reyes and two other people were driving around looking for gang rivals when he allegedly fired into a car in the 4100 block of South Sacramento Avenue, killing 21-year-old Claudio Cossio. Cossio’s family said he didn’t know Antonio Reyes.
Prosecutors said Antonio Reyes later reenacted how Cossio was shot in a video. On May 1, 2020, Reyes fatally shot 16-year-old Damian Duran in an alley in the 5200 block of South Homan Ave. and stole his drugs, prosecutors said. He then offered the bloodied drugs to a witness and asked for more bullets, saying he emptied his clip when he “Swiss-cheesed” Duran.
The next victim, 31-year-old Jose Martinez, was shot and killed in front of his three kids on Nov. 11, 2020, as they waited for his wife to buy a puppy. Reyes had driven past Martinez and flashed a gang sign, then returned and opened fire, prosecutors said.
Moriarty noted that Martinez clung to life for roughly a year and identified two suspects who have become witnesses, including George Reyes.
A day after Martinez was shot, Antonio Reyes followed 20-year-old Justin Gonzalez to the 4700 block of West 59th Street, pulled up beside him and opened fire, prosecutors said. Antonio Reyes later sent a video to a witness that showed the shooting scene.
Brosnahan ordered Reyes detained in all five murder cases, although he had long been ordered held in jail. While in custody, he was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly stabbed his cellmate with a “construction nail” in 2022.
His next court date was set for June 2.
1 comment:
He wouldn't be the first. I have known more than a couple.
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