Two weeks have passed since Brazilian, Euclid Da Silva was gunned down on Regent Street, Georgetown and the police are yet to apprehend his killers.
It remains unclear whether the police are presently pursuing any suspect/s in the matter.
Stabroek News yesterday reached out to Deputy Head of the Guyana Police Force Corporate Communications Unit, Stan Gouveia for any update on the investigation. He told this newspaper he would forward the questions to Commissioner of Police (ag) Nigel Hoppie. However, up to press time, there was no feedback from Gouveia.
Da Silva, 50, of Lot 23 Hadfield Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, was riddled with bullets on August 10th 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.
In a surveillance video seen by this newspaper, the gunmen can be seen rushing out of their car before flanking Da Silva and his companion, who were seated in the now dead man’s vehicle, and then opening fire.
Da Silva’s companion, who has been identified as a fellow Brazilian national, was critically injured.
Sources confirmed that the gunmen used AK-47 assault rifles to carry out the attack.
Following the shooting, police had said a person of interest, who is well known to lawmen was wanted for questioning in relation to the crime
The man subsequently turned himself into the police at the Brickdam Police Station in the company of his lawyer.
He is accused of threatening Da Silva’s son prior to the shooting. The person of interest and Da Silva’s son were involved in an altercation in front of a popular city nightspot some time ago.
Da Silva’s son received several threats from the man and had recently been 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 remains unclear whether any other individual/s were questioned as part of the probe.
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 also goes 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. 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.
Described as one of Brazil’s most wanted high profile fugitives, Da Silva escaped the Brazilian security forces several years ago after being jailed in 1998 on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
After his first escape, he reportedly spent almost a decade here and established a business in the city.
