OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – The man arrested following an hourslong standoff in connection with an Osceola County triple homicide is now in jail and facing 18 charges after confessing to the killings, according to records.
Kevin Christopher Torres, 41, fully confessed to killing two adults and one teen, Osceola Sheriff Marcos Lopez said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
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According to an arrest report, Torres confessed to fatally shooting 43-year-old Justin Atkinson, 16-year-old Calvin Atkinson and 25-year-old Anthony Mull, none of whom investigators believe are related to the suspect.
Deputies responded to scenes at two different apartments Tuesday afternoon in the areas of Flower and Gardner lanes, both in Kissimmee, records show.
Mull and the teen Atkinson were found dead at 281 Gardner Lane in a “ransacked” apartment, “with dresser drawers pulled out, items overturned, and furniture tossed and broken,” the report reads.
Lopez also said two girls, 11 and 16, witnessed the killings. After the incident, Torres held the girls at gunpoint, forcing them to collect items around the apartment for him to steal and threatening to kill them if they didn’t comply.
The older Atkinson was found dead in Torres’ apartment, located at 296 Flower Lane.
According to the arrest report, Torres told detectives that Atkinson, 43, who he did drugs with and knew “from the neighborhood,” had broken into his home without permission.
Torres then proceeded to shoot him in the head, records continue.
He is facing 18 charges related to Tuesday’s homicide investigation, including three counts of premeditated murder, grand theft auto, aggravated child abuse and abuse of a dead human body, after mutilating a body “with a torch and curtain rod.”
While Lopez said the suspect has a history of mental health and drug use issues, he says this crime “wasn’t (the result of) a mental health issue.”
Torres was arrested Tuesday afternoon after the standoff with Orange County deputies, which started around 11:15 a.m. and ended after 2 p.m. at a gas station parking lot on Rio Grande Avenue.
From Sky 6, we saw Torres in the standoff first drive the vehicle forward a little before being cornered by deputies. He eventually surrendered and walked toward deputies, taking off his shirt, before being placed on a stretcher and taken into custody.
Torres was taken to a local hospital “to be treated for injuries not related to his interaction with law enforcement,” according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
He will make his first appearance in Osceola County at 1 p.m. on Thursday.