A suspected teenage serial killer has been charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.
On Tuesday, the Chicago Police Department charged Antonio Reyes, now 21, with five additional counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder. These charges stem from random assaults that occurred on Chicago’s Southwest Side in 2020, when Reyes was between 16 and 17 years old, according to WGN9.
“It’s sad,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke remarked. “It’s heartbreaking to think about a 17-year-old committing serial murders over the course of nine months.”
At the time of the additional charges, Reyes had already been in custody at Cook County Jail since 2021 for the June 2020 murder of Luis Davalos-Garcia, 26, bringing his total murder charges to six.
WGN9 reported that Garcia was waiting outside his girlfriend’s home in his vehicle when Reyes gunned him down. Prosecutors indicated that Reyes was angry over a breakup at the time of the shooting.
On Wednesday, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, joined by O’Neill Burke and other key leaders from the CPD, held a press conference to discuss Reyes’s indiscriminate killings, as reported by WGN9.
The new charges against Reyes involve the murders of a 16-year-old, a 20-year-old, a 21-year-old, and two 31-year-olds, according to USA Today.
“None of these victims had ever met Antonio Reyes before, and there’s no reason to believe he had any motive for targeting them,” Burke stated. “One victim was killed while he went to a gas station to buy a soda. Another victim was sitting in a parked car with a friend on Palm Sunday afternoon. Yet another victim’s only crime was taking his family to get a new puppy one afternoon.”
A timeline of Reyes’s five additional murder victims, according to WGN9, is as follows:
– March 2, 2020: Francisco Magana, 31, 2600 block of West 59th Street
– April 5, 2020: Claudio Cossio, 21, 4100 block of South Sacramento
– May 1, 2020: Damian Duran, 16, 5200 block of South Homan Avenue
– November 8, 2020: Jose Martinez, 31, 5400 block of South Homan Avenue
– November 9, 2020: Justin Gonzalez, 31, 4700 block of West 59th Street
Significant developments in the investigation, as noted by Chief of Detectives Antionette Ursitti, occurred when law enforcement linked a .40-caliber handgun found at the scene to several shootings, in addition to associating Reyes’s substantial social media presence with the crimes.
While incarcerated at Cook County Jail, Reyes has continued to exhibit violent behavior toward inmates and staff.
According to USA Today, in November 2022, Reyes attempted to “shank” his cellmate during the early morning hours. This incident resulted in charges of attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon, and aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
In October 2024, Reyes exposed his genitals to a female deputy “for the purpose or effect of intimidating, harassing, or threatening,” according to charging documents. This incident led to charges of public indecency and lewd sexual display in a penal institution.
“This speaks to the level of disregard this offender has for human life,” Snelling remarked.
“When we’re dealing with someone this violent, we must remove them from the streets,” Snelling told reporters Wednesday. “It’s not common to encounter an individual like this, but when we do, we must take swift action.”
On Tuesday, Reyes pleaded not guilty to the new charges, with his next court date scheduled for March 18.
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[Feature Photo via Cook County Jail]