Lt. Craig Longworth, of the St. Louis County Police Department, said, “These are a lot of violent acts that occurred in a very short period of time.” “It appears that these are random acts.” Why? That’s a question I’m afraid I’m unable to answer.
A public alert was issued on Sept. 21 after the police revealed that the same gun had been used in three of the recent killings. Several more bodies were found in Ferguson, Missouri, including one with gunshot wounds to the head and hand just a few days later.
“They all had handgun casings in common. Richard Quinn, the F.B.I. special agent in charge in St. Louis, told reporters on Monday that the two bullets came from the same handgun. In addition, several witnesses and one victim had provided us with a detailed description of the subject’s physical characteristics.” But there was a snag there.
The police in Kansas City, where two more murders occurred in the same high-rise apartment building a few days apart at the end of October and the beginning of November, provided an important lead for the detectives. According to the affidavit, Mr. Reed was familiar enough with one of his victims to have exchanged hundreds of messages.
Surveillance footage showed a man with a crescent tattoo on his forehead fleeing the scene, according to the local police. According to the affidavit, Mr. Reed, who has a crescent tattoo on his forehead, had left his ID at the building’s front desk.
A ticket for Mr. Reed to return to St. Louis from Kansas City was purchased by the police on Friday, according to the department. He was pursued by a horde of people. Authorities detained him when they found a handgun linked to all of Missouri’s crime scenes in his possession when he got off the train in Independence, Mo.
Federal firearms trafficking charges were initially filed against Mr. Reed, but they were later dropped. Later, the city of St. Louis charged him with two homicides, and the county charged him with two more.
