Man suspected in 6 killings, most targeting women, arrested in Missouri

A man suspected in as many as six murders and several shootings in St. Louis and Kansas City, Kansas, has been arrested, officials said Monday.

Perez Reed is suspected in two homicides and a shooting in St. Louis, as well as two killings in St. Louis County, all in September, NBC affiliate KSDK first reported.

"The defendant was arrested in possession of a .40-caliber handgun that matched shell casings located at the body of all three victims," St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said at a Monday afternoon news conference. The firearm "also matched additional casings located at the scene of multiple homicides in the city of St. Louis, as well as Kansas City, Kansas."

Reed was arrested by an FBI task force and is being held on $2 million cash-only bond, Bell said.

Reed was charged Saturday with first-degree assault and two counts of first-degree murder, Bell said.

Reed is accused of shooting a male victim on Sept. 12 multiple times. The victim sustained "serious physical injuries and permanent disability," Bell said.

Authorities said Reed fatally shot Marnay Haynes on Sept. 13. Lester Robinson was shot at least twice by Reed on Sept. 26. Robinson also died, Bell said.

Reed has also been charged with three counts of armed criminal action, KSDK said.

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Investigators obtained evidence that allegedly connects Reed to two deaths in a Kansas City, Kansas, high-rise apartment in late October, KSDK reported. The sources did not detail that evidence.

The victims were mostly women, some of whom were involved in sex work. Other victims were known to dress as women, according to KSDK. And some victims did not fit into any type of pattern, the news station reported.

An arrest came after police in Kansas City called authorities in St. Louis after two apartment shootings in late October, where a man and woman were found dead in separate units in the same complex, according to KSDK.

Police connected the suspect’s cellphone to an Amtrak ticket from Kansas City to St. Louis, the news station reported. FBI agents followed him on that train ride, then onto a bus. Reed, 25, of Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri, was arrested after getting off the bus in Independence, Missouri, on Friday, according to KSDK.

He was charged with a federal count of transporting firearms across state lines with the intent to commit a felony after he was found with the alleged murder weapon and shoes that matched evidence found at the crime scenes, police sources told the news station.

U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming with the Eastern District of Missouri, spoke alongside Bell on Monday afternoon. She named at least six police departments and two federal agencies that assisted in the investigation.

She called Reed's arrest a, "relentless investigation of these hideous and violent crimes."

The motive behind the attacks is not yet known, and officials who addressed reporters Monday declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

NBC News has reached out to the St. Louis Metro Police Department, St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI for comment.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department said they could not confirm details of Reed's case.