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Pablo Serrano-Vitorino Captured: Suspect In Five Deaths An Illegal Alien, Released Via Immigration ‘Error’

By Shelley Hazen
Published on: 03:08 PST, Mar 9, 2016

Five people are dead, allegedly at the hands of an illegal immigrant named Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, who has been captured after a massive manhunt that followed a quadruple murder Monday night.

The motive for Monday night’s shooting is still unknown, as is the shooting death of a fifth man in a neighboring county while he was on the run. Pablo Serrano-Vitorino, 40, now faces several counts of murder, NBC News reported.

It all began Monday night. According to the Kansas City Star, four men — two of them brothers — were shot to death with an AK-47 in their home. Their neighbor, Pablo Serrano-Vitorino, was identified as the suspected gunman.

Among the dead are Michael Capps, 41, and brothers Austin Harter, 29, and Clint Harter, 27. The fourth victim wasn’t named, and at least one of the men lived in the home. One of the victims called police before he died.

After the quadruple murder, the gunman fled in his 2002 Dodge Ram pickup to another county, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported. Police discovered the truck on the side of Interstate 70, and shortly afterward, someone called 911 to report that a person had been killed in a nearby town.

The fifth victim was Randy J. Nordman, 49, near New Florence, Missouri.

That same day, Pablo Serrano-Vitorino was charged with four counts of murder in Monday’s shooting, and a manhunt launched to find the fugitive. The search was conducted by air and on foot, schools were shut down, and a perimeter was set up.

Wednesday morning, someone called the police to report that Pablo Serrano-Vitorino had allegedly pulled a gun on him at a gas station. Police followed the lead and found their fugitive lying in a ditch near Interstate 70, 170 miles from the site of the deadly shooting and not far from where Nordman was shot.

Cops said Pablo Serrano-Vitorino looked exhausted and had a rifle in his possession, but he didn’t resist arrest.

“We’re very relieved that it ended the way it did and a lot of citizens are breathing a sigh of relief,” said Sgt. Scott White of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. “We didn’t want any more injuries… any more deaths.”

Police still don’t know what led to Monday night’s mass murder or why Pablo Serrano-Vitorino allegedly killed the man in New Florence. Neighbors didn’t know of an ongoing dispute or any connection between him and the four men shot Monday.

“I have no idea. I’m flabbergasted. The neighborhood is mystified,” said one friend after the shooting.

Pablo Serrano-Vitorino had apparently only lived in the house for a year and kept to himself. He lived there with his wife and two elementary age children, was described as quiet, and reportedly didn’t behave in a strange or threatening manner.

“This was a random act,” said Marlena Kyle, an aunt to the two brothers. “They were innocents.”

Pablo Serrano-Vitorino is a Mexican national and had been deported in 2004. But somehow, he returned illegally, according to the Department Homeland Security.

The New York Daily News reported that Pablo Serrano-Vitorino had been released during an “immigration slip up” last year. An Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman said that the man had been fingerprinted in September in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. He’d been caught driving without a license.

However, ICE sent a retainer for Pablo Serrano-Vitorino to the wrong county, and the man went on his way. The agency said it “regrets the error.”

If the retainer had been sent to the correct county, Pablo Serrano-Vitorino would’ve been entered back into the legal immigrant system and sent back to Mexico.

[Image via Fer Gregory/Shutterstock]

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