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Sheriff: Osceola County triple homicide suspect confesses to shooting, killing 2 men, teen

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The suspect in a triple homicide in Osceola County admitted to deputies that he shot and killed two men and a teenager before stealing an elderly woman’s car and getting into a prolonged standoff with deputies, according to an arrest warrant released Wednesday.

Kevin Torres, 41, is facing 20 charges including three counts of murder, aggravated child abuse and abuse of a human body, according to the arrest warrant.

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“It’s truly sad that this happened in a neighborhood like this,” said Steven Paul, a building worker.

Torres told deputies the violence started after a man he knew from the neighborhood, and from doing drugs together, identified as Justin Atkinson, 43, entered his apartment on Flower Lane in Kissimmee without permission. Torres told deputies he asked Atkinson what he was doing there, but shot him in the head before he could answer.

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According to the arrest warrant, Torres then went to the neighboring apartment building on Gardner Lane where Atkinson lived and knocked on the door to let the people Atkinson lived with know he needed help.

But deputies said Torres shot and killed Anthony Mull, 25, after he opened the door while he was putting on his shoes and then shot and killed Atkinson’s 16-year-old son, Calvin Atkinson, inside the apartment when he opened a bedroom door.

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Deputies said two girls, ages 16 and 11, inside the apartment were not injured, but that Torres told them if they didn’t help him collect valuables from around the home he would kill them.

Deputies said Torres also admitted to mutilating one man’s body after he died.

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When he left the apartment, according to the arrest warrant, Torres told deputies he stole the purse and car belonging to an elderly woman who was friends with his grandmother.

Her car was the one deputies said Torres was driving on South Rio Grande Avenue in Orange County when deputies caught up with him on Tuesday. Detectives said Torres asked them to kill him and said he’d done a “terrible thing” and that “his life was over.”

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After a long standoff, deputies said Torres fired six rounds through the car’s windshield toward a trash can before surrendering when the SWAT team arrived.

“They didn’t return fire. He gave up after that,” Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said.

Deputies said Torres told them he’d taken Xanax, and was taken the hospital to be cleared before being transported to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

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Deputies said Torres is a convicted felon related to a previous burglary charge, and is not allowed to be in possession of a firearm.

Lopez said Torres was previously arrested 46 times, convicted of seven felonies and two misdemeanors for things like burglary and drugs.

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In both a 2019 charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a law enforcement officer and a 2020 fraud case, a judge determined Torres was “mentally unable to stand trial.”

But Lopez was quick to say Torres’ mental health did not play a role in the murders.

“Well, what I do know about his background, he’s been Baker Acted multiple times. He has extensive history of mental illness and drug use,” Lopez said.

Torres was booked into the Osceola County Jail on Wednesday.

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Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.