Man charged in 6 murders on Southwest Side over several months in 2020, Chicago police say
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A jailed man has been charged in connection with a total of six Southwest Side murders, Chicago police said.
The suspect, Antonio Reyes, was just 17 years old when he allegedly killed six people over a span of several months in 2020, police said.
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Chicago police said there has been a complex investigation into a long compilation of evidence dating back to 2020. They were able to trace back the evidence to the firearm used in the murders, as well as a trail of social media posts that the suspect made, leading to several more felony charges.
Police said Reyes, now 21, has been in jail since 2021 in connection to a fatal shooting in the 5800-block of South Rockwell on June 24, 2020.
On Tuesday, while still in custody, Reyes was arrested in connection to five other murders in five separate incidents, which happened at these locations and dates:
- 2600-block of W. 59th St. on March 2, 2020
- 4100-block of S. Sacramento Ave. on April 5, 2020
- 5200-block of S. Homan Ave. on May 1, 2020
- 5400-block of S. Homan Ave. on Nov 8, 2020
- 4700-block of W. 59th St. on Nov 9, 2020
The murders happened in Gage Park, Brighton Park and West Lawn.
At a press conference Wednesday, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said Reyes is also responsible for four attempted murders.
"When we are dealing with someone who's this violent we have to remove them from the streets," Snelling said.
Reyes now faces at least nine felony charges, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office announced.
"While he was in custody for those charges... he allegedly tried to kill his cell mate with a shank and has charges pending there as well," Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke said.
Superintendent Snelling said three of the attempted murder charges were for children between the ages of three and nine.
Reyes appeared in court for arraignment on the new charges, which he pled not guilty to. He'll be held with no bail and is due back in court March 18.
In one of the incidents on November 8, 2020, Reyes allegedly shot and killed a 31-year-old man near 54th and South Homan. He faces attempted murder charges for the three children who witnessed their father get shot there. The ages of those children ranging from three to nine years old.
"One victim was killed while he was going to the gas station to buy a pop early one evening," Burke said. "Another victim was sitting in a parked car with a friend on Palm Sunday afternoon when he was shot and killed."
One of the victim's mother, Nohemi Cossio, said Wednesday's news is bittersweet and the past five years have been heart-wrenching since her son, Claudio Cossio, was killed when he was just 21 years old.
"It takes me back to the first days of losing my son," Nohemi Cossio said. "It brings all the feelings back but at the same time I feel relived... I feel justice will be served."
A pin of her son Claudio was over her heart, the never-ending reminder that he is no longer with us.
"I feel relieved. I feel that justice will be served. It's been a long time coming. I almost felt like we would never see this day," Cossio said. "Even to this day, till this day, it's very hard going about my life."
Cossio's son was killed in April of 2020, picking up a friend in the Brighton Park neighborhood.
The father to a 2-year-old girl was shot for seemingly no reason while sitting in his car.
"A piece of my heart is gone," Cossio said. "I had to learn to live without my child and I say child because to me he was only 21. He was still a child."
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