Gun talk between Big Bloody Barlos and Chapz

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Carlos Guerra Guerra insisted under oath that he never intended to use the loaded handgun he was carrying the night he fatally shot Josue Silva at a southwest London bush party and only had it with him to use as a prop in one of his rap music videos.

“I never had any intention of shooting anybody when I walked into that bush,” he said articulately and without reservation, claiming that he was acting in self-defence on July 31, 2021.

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Assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Moser effectively tore apart Guerra Guerra’s testimony during her cross-examination, exposing lies big enough to drive a truck through and suggesting Guerra Guerra put on a mask and went into the party where he knew no one looking for an opportunity to use a gun to cement the same reputation as his nickname – “Big Bloody Barlos.”

She was able to make her point despite not being able to show the jury Guerra Guerra’s own words in a text exchange with Dylan Schaap, his former best friend and sidekick known as “Chapz” who has already been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and assault with a weapon. During the online conversation that was determined to be inadmissible at the trial, the pair enthusiastically discussed a plan to buy a firearm in Toronto just two weeks before Silva was shot to death and teased each other about who would shoot it first.

“The potential prejudice is obvious,” Superior Court Justice Patricia Moore wrote in her decision on the pre-trial application on Oct. 23. “If the jury were to find that the conversation is as suggested, a conversation about the purchase of a gun, (it) may cause moral prejudice against Mr. Guerra Guerra,” and the jury may have concluded he “is a bad person.”

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A text exchange about a gun on July 16, 2021, was found on Schaap’s cellphone, and in the deleted messages of Guerra Guerra’s phone, by London police Special Const. Kimberley Seward, a digital forensic examiner whose evidence was critical for the Crown at the trial given the abundance of material found on cellphones and social media of the accused and the young people who attended the party.

The Crown was prepared to show the potential gun purchase text to the jury and even call a street slang expert to interpret what the texts meant.

A transcript of the text exchange, where it appears Guerra Guerra and Schaap discuss buying a gun and who will be the first to fire it, was included in Moore’s decision to not allow it into evidence:

Guerra Guerra: Wanna come tdot w me and KK tonight?

I’m gonna buy a stick.

Schaap: How much

Guerra Guerra: 1680

Or 18 w the 30 bopper

But ion need a 30 clip rn

Schaap: Ahlie cuz your shaking it

Guerra Guerra: Who

I can’t even fit a 30 bopper in the stizzy

Schaap: That’s ok you chapz will be the first one to bop it so you know who to pass it too

Guerra Guerra: No no Barlos gon b firing it

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Barlos the new shoota

The stick is mad sexy do

Is a g17 w a P8 frame

Schaap: Are you dumb you wouldn’t bop it.

And Ahlie

Guerra Guerra: Are you stupidddd

U think I’m a buy it and not bop a stick

Schaap: We’ll see

Guerra Guerra: Bout

But ya If u wanna fly than Imk

Schaap: Aii

Guerra Guerra: Watchhhhhhhhhhhhh

Schaap: And your not bout it shut up

Guerra Guerra: Who

Who do I look like

Schaap: First body tonite den if your bod

Guerra Guerra: Ahmed said

Schaap: So excited geez woah damn wow

During legal arguments, the Crown said that the “stick” and “stizzy” referred to a gun and that it could be “fired.” A “g17” is slang for a Glock 17 with “p8” or Polymer frame. A“30-bopper” would be the magazine clip.

But after pre-trial motions argued in March and August, Moore decided the probative value of the evidence did not outweigh the prejudicial effect on Guerra Guerra.

A 9-mm Luger casing was found at the crime scene. However, there was no evidence that a firearm mentioned during the text exchange was ever purchased or that the gun that was discussed was capable of firing a 9-mm bullet.

Moore did allow the Crown permission to show several videos found on Schaap’s phone, all of them created just days before the shooting, but stipulated that they could only be played without audio. Only one of the videos was shown to the jury after an admission by the defence that Guerra Guerra did have access to four handguns.

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But all the videos were short, troubling illustrations of the enthusiasm Guerra Guerra and his pals had for handguns. One was filmed at Schaap’s apartment on July 23, 2021, showing Guerra Guerra and another man with handguns tucked into their waistbands. Guerra Guerra was shown pulling a firearm out of a cross-body satchel. Both men pointed their guns at the camera while singing.

Another video showed Guerra Guerra, Schaap and another man at Schaap’s apartment. A brown handgun was on a table, while the person filming the video, Schaap and Guerra Guerra are all shown holding handguns.

A third video showed five handguns in a pillowcase. Another showed Schaap with a handgun and unloading a magazine of bullets.

The one video that was presented to the jury showed five handguns laid out on a table at Schaap’s apartment. The three-second-long video was found on Guerra Guerra’s phone and was shown to the jury.

Moore also decided the Crown could call a firearms expert to give an opinion about whether the guns were real or replicas. And she determined that the evidence of Kaiah Edmonds, Guerra Guerra’s love interest who proved to be a key Crown witness, was admissible.

Edmonds, who drove to the bush party with Guerra Guerra and others after Emily Altmann called for their assistance, testified at the trial that Guerra Guerra had shown her some handguns he had stored at his father’s apartment in the days before the shooting.

The expert would have testified that he believed they were real.

jsims@postmedia.com

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