Portuguese police have mounted a manhunt operation following the cold-blooded killing of a nightclub bouncer in Coimbra last Sunday.
With an international arrest warrant already in place, hopes are that authorities can catch 21-year-old Junior Souza before he escapes the country and flees to his native Brazil.
As national media has repeatedly explained in multiple situations, despite Portugal’s close links with the South American country, there is no extradition agreement in place which means murderers and other criminals are forever slipping through the cracks.
In this case, Souza is the prime suspect in what began as a driveby shooting, before the Brazilian allegedly left the car from which he had been firing and went over to where his victim lay.
In all, nine shots were fired into 30-year-old Ismael Soares, who could not be saved, despite subsequent medical efforts at reanimation.
Souza is described as then disappearing without trace.
“Without a defined profession, he already has a criminal record for attempted murder after being involved in a shooting in Coimbra’s Praça da República in 2013”, writes national tabloid Correio da Manhã.
Souza also apparently “habitually carries a firearm”, and is “known for causing problems”.
The incident outside the Avenue Club disco last Sunday was prompted, said the paper, by an altercation between Souza’s girlfriend and the disco’s management.
Lisbon-born Soares tried to “calm the conflict”, taking the young woman outside, which is where he was fatally shot.
