Accused clams up in police interview after arrest in bush party shooting

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Det. Jim MacLachan talked about a lot with Carlos Guerra Guerra in the wake of the southwest London bush bash where a Western University student was shot to death.

He interviewed Guerra Guerra before his arrest. And he interviewed him for four hours after he was taken into custody for second-degree murder.

The conversations often meandered into discussions about family, music and personal choices. MacLachlan kept trying to appeal to Guerra Guerra’s conscience to tell him what happened.

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While the officer challenged the information in Guerra Guerra’s initial police statement made on Aug. 4, 2021, and after his arrest, laid out all the evidence police had that pointed to Guerra Guerra and his friend Dylan Schaap, and made appeals to Guerra Guerra’s conscience, Guerra Guerra said nothing.

“My lawyer told me not to answer any questions,” he told MacLachlan at the beginning of the second interview at London police headquarters on Aug. 7, 2021.

Thursday was MacLachlan’s second day in the witness box while the jury watched the extensive interview videos.

MacLachlan reviewed Guerra Guerra’s initial version at the start of the second interview, then told him about what they were able to find in their investigation. They had searched his phone and found some potentially related messages, searched his Dodge Journey and found a machete and interviewed many people who pointed to him as a suspect. And he told him Schaap was in custody.

Many times Guerra Guerra said “no comment” to MacLachlan’s comments.

Guerra Guerra, 23, and Emily Altmann, 22, have both pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Josue Silva, 18, who died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen on July 31, 2021. Their Superior Court jury trial is in its fifth week.

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Silva, his friends and about 100 other young people attended the mid-summer bash in the clearing of a wooded area just off Pack Road near Grand Oak Cross.

The jury has heard that was a verbal altercation between Altmann and a group of other people over a drink thrown in Altmann’s direction.

Altmann left angry with her friends and made calls to Guerra Guerra to help her settle the score. The jury has seen a video of Guerra Guerra and Schaap, dressed all in black, arriving to meet Altmann, then heading toward the path leading to the party.

Witnesses have testified they were hiding in the bushes after hearing people had arrived at the party with weapons. Silva was shot as he emerged from his hiding spot.

The jury saw the last of Guerra Guerra’s first voluntary interview before his arrest; the beginning was played on Wednesday, where Guerra Guerra said he arrived at the party to help Altmann, went into the bash because she said she was looking for a lost item, saw a group of boys emerge from the bushes and ran after hearing a pop.

MacLachlan told Guerra Guerra Silva’s father had gone to the crime scene to see where they found his son.

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He described how Silva’s father picked up pieces of medical debris left by paramedics trying to save Silva’s life.

“The family is broken right now and they need to have some sense of justice. They just need to know the truth, that’s it,” MacLachlan told Guerra Guerra.

He told Guerra Guerra police had spoken to a witness who heard Altmann say as she was leaving the party before calling Guerra Guerra, “you’re going to get shot.”

“You’re the one she calls and you bring Dylan. This is a problem that needs to be explained,” the officer said.

“I don’t know why she would say that. This girl was drunk all over the place, screaming. She’s also the type of person who just goes crazy. She’s like that when she’s intoxicated,” Guerra Guerra said.

MacLachlan pressed him for more details and asked him if he shot Silva. “No sir,” he replied.

Later he asked MacLachlan, “Do you guys think I am a murderer?”

“I don’t want you to be a murderer and I don’t want you to not be a murderer. I want you to be you. .. The truth is what happened,” MacLachlan said.

MacLachlan said he’s interviewed everyone from “soulless killers” to “people who made mistakes…. It doesn’t change the fact that someone died,” adding investigators still had a lot more evidence to sift through.

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Guerra Guerra left the interview and was arrested and charged with second-degree murder two days later. The second interview was conducted the morning after he turned himself into police.

He was congenial with MacLachlan, as he was in the first interview, but made it clear he would be following legal advice to exercise his right to remain silent. Several times, when MacLachlan made suggestions to him, his answer was “no comment.”

The officer showed him maps of the crime scene and still photos from surveillance videos showing two people in black clothing, and another believed to be Guerra Guerra and Altmann. Also shown to Guerra Guerra was a photo of a knife and a bullet casing found at the scene.

He tried to appeal to Guerra Guerra’s conscience to tell him what happened. MacLachlan said they had witnesses who saw him and Schaap arrive at the party with weapons and with Altmann, head to the firepit, then Silva and his friend Logan Marshall popped out of the bushes where they had been hiding as Guerra Guerra and his crew were leaving.

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MacLachlan suggested Schaap went after Marshall and Silva jumped in to help Marshall, “and ends up in a scramble with you.”

He suggested Silva and Marshall were wanting to leave. “He was looking to leave and he got trapped and he got shot,” MacLachlan said. “That’s the picture that’s been painted.”

Even when MacLachlan urged him to come clean to help his friend Schaap, Guerra Guerra said nothing.

MacLachlan told Guerra Guerra he “had the piece to bring this altogether and help with the understanding.” He declined to answer.

“I stick to my right,” he said.

The trial is not sitting on Friday, but returns on Monday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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