INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A suspect in an Independence crime spree is facing more charges after a second victim died last month.
Tyler Rizer, 28, was indicted on Friday where jurors added another murder charge to his case.
The update comes after Independence police confirmed a second victim in the crime spree died from their injuries. Family identified the man as Jorge Recio Leyva, who died on Oct. 11.
Police previously said 29-year-old Juavvion Bagsby died in a shooting on Sept. 29, part of Rizer’s alleged spree. Another man, Doc Paton, was also stabbed twice but survived.
Rizer is now charged with over a dozen charges:
- Two counts of second-degree murder,
- One count of first-degree assault,
- Four counts of armed criminal action,
- Two counts of third-degree assault,
- One count of unlawful use of a weapon,
- One count of stealing a car,
- One count of leaving the scene of a crash,
- And one count of vehicle hijacking.
Independence police responded just after 6 p.m. Sept. 29 for a reported stabbing near 40th Terrace and S. Osage Street.
Officers found Paton in a yard suffering from apparent stab wounds. Next to him was a knife with a silver blade and black handle. Bystanders on scene said the suspect, now identified as Rizer, was last seen running south across Interstate 70.
Paton told officers he was giving Rizer a ride when the man grabbed a knife and threatened him. Paton told FOX4 he pulled his vehicle over, but Rizer stabbed him. Paton took off running, he said as Rizer chased after him.
A few minutes after arriving on scene, officers heard reports of an assault nearby at 41st and Osage. Officers then heard several gunshots coming from the area, and a shooting call came out over dispatch.
Police were also called to an assault where a man had attacked a woman and her two small children, ages 3 and 5. The call was then upgraded to a shooting involving two victims.
When officers arrived on scene, they found two men shot, lying between two houses. One victim, later identified as Bagsby, was pronounced dead at the scene.
First responders took the other victim, now identified as Recio, to the hospital where he later died.
Police then made contact with the woman who was attacked, along with her two children. She said she was with her children in the backyard when a man jumped over her fence.
She said he approached her and her children, grabbed the 3-year-old child around the neck and entered the patio area of her home.
Court documents say Rizer told them to shut up or he would kill them. She called her husband, Bagsby, telling him what was happening. Rizer then grabbed her by the throat and took her phone but then gave it back, court records say.
He then grabbed her 5-year-old and held him as he did the other child. She was able to wrestle her children from the man, and he walked in front of the home. She asked a neighbor to record the suspect as he walked away.
Court documents say Bagsby arrived on scene in his vehicle and dropped off a family member. He left in his vehicle where he located Rizer and confronted him with a handgun.
During the confrontation, the woman told Bagsby that the police were on the way and to not shoot the suspect. Shortly after, she heard gunshots.
After the shooting, court records says Rizer took Bagsby’s car before he crashed it and tried to carjack another driver. Police eventually took Rizer into custody overnight.
He’s scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 7.
