Brazilian businessman executed, friend critical
Kaieteur News – A Brazilian businessman and his associate were shot execution style, last night around 22:00hrs , while sitting in a parked vehicle in front of Shamdas Kirpalani, between Camp and Wellington Streets, Georgetown.
Pronounced dead on the scene is Euclides Erian Da Silva, a businessman, while his associate was transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and was, up to press time last night, still alive. Video and still images seen by this paper show the two brutally injured men, both still alive at the time, but gunshot wounds spread across their face, arms and torsos.
Dozens of onlookers gathered at the scene as members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) cordoned off the crime scene. Da Silva’s relatives and friend were also on the scene consoling each other. This publication was told that the suspects first opened fire and took out one of the tires of the Black Toyota Tacoma vehicle, GTT 3257, that the men were parked in.
Eyewitnesses also said that the perpetrators opened fire from a heavily-tinted black motor vehicle which then sped east along Regent Street before turning into Alexander Street. Around 23:22hrs a squad of heavily armed special tactical ranks arrived on scene, temporarily took up strategic positions around the cordoned off area before leaving 15 minutes after – during that time forensic officers could be seen gathering evidence near to the vehicle.
According to Divisional Commander Simon McBean who was on the scene last night, the police set up roadblocks along the East Bank and East Coast Demerara, in Region Three and around the city. Da Silva has had a shady past, including being wanted by the police in Brazil for drug trafficking in the late 1990s. He was arrested in Guyana ten years ago and was fighting extradition claiming to be Guyanese.