Crime & Law
Chicago Man in Jail on Murder Charge Since 2020 Now Accused of 5 Additional Killings
(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
A Chicago man who has been incarcerated since he was 17 when he was first accused of murder is now facing new charges alleging he fatally shot five other people throughout the city, all in 2020.
Antonio Reyes — who was charged this week with five new counts of first-degree murder as well as four counts of attempted first-degree murder — now stands accused in six separate fatal shootings as authorities have labeled him an alleged serial killer.
Chicago police officials believe the victims were randomly targeted and had no connections to Reyes or each other.
“It’s sad to think about a 17-year-old committing serial murders over the course of nine months. How many people were taken,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said at a news conference Wednesday. “None of these people had ever met Antonio Reyes before, and there’s no reason to suspect Antonio Reyes had any reason to target them.”
Reyes, now 21, was first arrested in late 2020 in connection with the killing of a 26-year-old man in the 5800 block of South Rockwell Street earlier that year. He’s been held at the Cook County Jail since, and while there, Burke said he also allegedly attempted to kill his cellmate using a “shank.”
The 2020 homicides Reyes was accused of this week include: the March 2 killing of a 31-year-old man in the 2600 block of West 59th Street; the April 5 killing of a 21-year-old man in the 4100 block of South Sacramento Avenue; the May 1 killing of a 16-year-old boy in the 5200 block of South Homan Avenue; the Nov. 8 killing of a 31-year-old man in the 5400 block of South Homan Avenue; and the Nov. 9 killing of a 20-year-old man in the 4700 block of West 59th Street.
According to Burke, one of the victims was killed while on their way to a gas station to buy a drink. Another was taking his family to buy a new puppy.
“There are six lives,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said, “that were brutally taken.”
Three of the attempted murder charges Reyes now faces stem from the Nov. 8 shooting, in which he allegedly killed the victim who was driving in a vehicle with three children between the ages of 3 and 9, according to Snelling.
Police said a .40 caliber handgun recovered by investigators in 2020 was later tied to shell casings found at multiple crime scenes, which helped lead to Reyes’ arrest. CPD Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti said Reyes’ social media footprint was “fairly significant” in helping tie him to the various shootings.
Ursitti said the department now considers many of these cases “closed,” though she did say police are looking into some of Reyes’ associates and any role they may have had in the shootings.
According to Cook County prosecutors, Reyes was arraigned on the new charges Tuesday and entered pleas of not guilty. He will remain in custody pending those cases.
“It’s difficult to comprehend how anyone could easily take someone’s life and especially so many in one year,” Snelling said. “It is not ordinary when we see an individual like this, but when we do, we must take swift action.”
