Remand after drive-by shooting near Nicosia prisons (update 2)

A 26-year-old released convict was remanded for eight days by the Nicosia District Court on Saturday suspected of shooting a gun six times in the air near the central prison after his release.

Earlier, police arrested the man from Larnaca at his home, following witness testimony and examination of CCTV footage.

According to what was heard in court on Saturday, CCTV footage at the prisons showed eight people arriving to pick the suspect up, in three cars. The group is also seen in the footage to taking a picture outside the prison.

The court also heard that police are examining a second set of CCTV footage from cameras located around 100 metres away from the prisons.

The police inspector told the court that these cameras have footage of one of the vehicles, but not of the individuals. He added that the cameras captured the first letters of one of the cars’ front licence plates, which did not have a back licence plate.

The main suspect was spotted in the cameras of the prison entering one of the vehicles spotted in the second set of cameras. The inspector said that the 26-year-old was seen getting into the driver’s seat.

According to further testimony of the inspector, the vehicle the 26-year-old was suspected to be driving was also the vehicle the gunfire originated from. The inspector said that the gunfire came from the driver’s side of the vehicle.

The defence of the 26-year-old objected to the number of days the court remanded their client for, saying “it was difficult to have a gun as soon as he left prison”.

The lawyer also claimed that at the moment of the gunfire in the video only a hand is seen outside of the window of the car, and it was unclear what the was in the individual’s hand and what he was doing.

Police were at the scene in the Ayios Andreas area in the capital on Friday, when a spokesperson told the Cyprus Mail it was too soon to tell if the incident was related to ‘business activities’ or a retaliation of sorts.

The 26-year-old along with friends that had come to collect him from jail were in a black car with tinted windows as the incident unfolded at 11:20am.

Initially, police said the shots were targeting a property that appeared to be owned by a Nicosia businessman whose home – in a different part of the capital – had been shot at in the past.

But, as the day went on, sources said the shooting at Makedonias street were in the air – rather than the property.