Is Perez Reed a serial killer who was walking among us?

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - On Tuesday, Perez Reed was charged in St. Louis with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action.

This follows charges against Reed that were announced Monday in St. Louis County that include two counts of first- degree murder, one count of first degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action.

Reed is believed to have carried out a killing spree that began September 12 and stretched from St. Louis to Kansas City, Kansas. At Monday’s press conference in Clayton, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell was asked but if he would classify Reed as a serial killer and he said authorities were not calling Reed a serial killer. The FBI defines serial killings as a series of three or more killings having common characteristics to suggest they were committed by the same person or persons. Reed is tied to six killings, including two homicides in September in Kansas City , Kansas.

Geriann Brandt is a the director of The Criminal Justice/Criminology Program at Maryville University. She’s studied serial killers and said the cruelty they exhibit is not something that’s understandable by the rest of the population.

“But this very unique person could be a sociopath or a psychopath, but they’ve already picked out their target. And that particular attributes, those attributes that they target really means something to them,” she said.

Brandt said most serial killers often suffer from some sort of psychological disorder or deep-seated emotional problem.

“They want to have those demons that have been around their neck like a chokehold, maybe since their childhood. They want those demons lifted and by killing that person, random, somebody simply on the street. By killing that person, they think they’re going to be feeling much, much better about themselves. And then they realize that they don’t, and they had to do it again. And then they had to do it again,” she said.

On Monday, police said they believe if they had not made an arrest, that the killings would have continued.