As investigators continue to hunt for the two gunmen who killed Brazilian Euclid Da Silva on Tuesday night, a known individual who is accused of recently threatening the dead man’s son surrendered to the police yesterday.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum informed Stabroek News that the man surrendered to the Brickdam Police station yesterday. He was accompanied by his lawyer.
Blanhum said the man was immediately detained for questioning. He remained in police custody up to last night.
The man, who is known to law enforcement officials, was recently involved in an altercation with DaSilva’s son.
Stabroek News has learnt that the incident took place in front of a popular city nightspot some time ago.
Investigators have learned that Da Silva’s son received several threats from the man, was also recently warned to “be careful” by person/s who told him that the individual would kill him.
The threats were never reported to the police.
It is suspected that DaSilva might have been targeted as a result of the feud between his son and the man currently in custody.
Da Silva, 50, of Lot 23 Hadfield Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, was riddled with bullets after two gunmen opened fire as he sat in a pick-up truck outside of Shamdas Kirpalani, on Regent Street, near Camp Street, in Georgetown.
His companion, who has been identified as a fellow Brazilian national, was critically injured and remains hospitalised.
The shooting took place around 10.20 pm and was recorded by nearby surveillance cameras.
Da Silva was seated in the driver’s seat, while the injured man was in the front passenger seat.
According to the police, a white car approached from the western direction on Regent Street and parked behind Da Silva’s vehicle. The two suspects, both of whom were armed with “long guns,” police said, exited the car and opened fire at the pick-up and its occupants.
They then rejoined their car, which sped off east along Regent Street.
In one surveillance video seen by this newspaper, the gunmen can be seen rushing out of their car before flanking the men and then opening fire. The shooting lasted five seconds.
Police believe that at least one of the suspects used an AK-47 assault rifle to carry out the attack. It is suspected that Da Silva was shot about nine times.
Back in 2010, Da Silva, who was listed as a Brazilian fugitive by Interpol, was arrested by local law enforcement here and handed over to authorities in the neighbouring country.
In July 2010, the man was held by local police for allegedly forging a Guyanese birth certificate on which he purported to show that he was born here.
The man operated a business in the city and at the time of his arrest a move was made in the courts to have his deportation blocked after his true identity was determined.
In 2012, he was arrested for illegal entry as well as obtaining a Guyanese passport on a forged birth certificate.
Da Silva, who went by the names Euclides Erian Da Silva or Euclid Saigo, was said to have escaped from a maximum-security prison in Boa Vista in late July 2012 along with several other persons during a prison break. He had been serving time in the prison across the border from Lethem for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Stabroek News was told that there Da Silva had managed to secure an order barring his deportation.
