ICE failed in case of KCK man in U.S. illegally, accused of 5 murders, lawsuit says

A new lawsuit alleges that U.S. immigration officials negligently allowed a Kansas City, Kan., man to remain in the country illegally before a 2016 shooting spree that killed five men.

The suit was filed Monday by the father of one of four men shot to death in Kansas City, Kan., in March 2016.

Pablo Serrano-Vitorino was the next door neighbor of one of those victims, and he is charged in Wyandotte County District Court with four counts of first-degree murder.

After those shootings, Serrano-Vitorino fled to Missouri, where he allegedly killed another man before he was arrested.

He is now jailed in St. Louis awaiting trial in the Missouri case.

Serrano-Vitorino, 42, was previously deported after he was convicted of a felony in 2003, according to the lawsuit.

But he illegally re-entered the United States at some unknown date.

In 2014 he was arrested in Kansas City, Kan., and charged with battery for punching his brother.

Wyandotte County jail officials notified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that he was in custody, according to the suit.

But when no ICE agent came to the jail for the required face-to-face interview with Serrano-Vitorino, jail officials had to release him.

Later in 2014, he was arrested for drunk driving in Coffey County, Kan., but the suit does not say if ICE was notified.

Then in September 2015, Serrano-Vitorino was fingerprinted in Overland Park Municipal Court after he was cited for traffic infractions.

Officials with ICE then sought to have him held in custody. They sent the paperwork to the Johnson County Jail, but he was not being held there.

As a result he was once again released from custody.

The suit, filed by the father of Austin Harter, one of five men subsequently killed, allegedly by Serrano-Vitorino.

It was the alleged failure of ICE and its employees that “provided the means for a convicted felon who was illegally in the country, but in custody, to be released and kill Austin and the four other victims,” according to the suit.

“These deaths were foreseeable and preventable had the ICE officials, officers and/or agents involved simply followed the laws, regulations and/or procedures, which they were required to uphold,” according to the lawsuit.

It seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 7:00 AM with the headline "ICE failed in case of KCK man in U.S. illegally, accused of 5 murders, lawsuit says."