A 40-year-old Greek Cypriot man murdered on Tuesday evening in the Pyla area. The man has been shot sniper-style from a distance Greek Cypriot Daily Cyprus Mail wrote.
Giorgos Georgiou, aka Chiquito, was gunned down at around 8.45pm on the way to enter his house, which is located near the motorway exit to Pyla. He sustained two bullet wounds, one to the shoulder and one to the heart.
Police have recovered a 7.62mm calibre shell casing on a mound around 130 metres from the scene.
Authorities believe that the shooter had escaped in a car waiting for him on a road that runs parallel to the victim’s home 80 metres away.
With the help of dogs, police combed a field opposite Georgiou’s home seeking three shell casings ejected from the weapon used in the shooting.
Before locating the casing, investigators were thinking of bringing one of their own snipers to the scene in a bid to pinpoint the shooter’s location.
The footage of security cameras installed at Georgiou’s house showed him getting shot but not much else, reports said.
Georgiou, a father of three, had moved his family into the house three months ago.
Reports said he had been warned by police to take measures to protect himself.
He was known to police in connection with gambling but according to reports he had also been the target of a murder plan foiled last summer.
It was said that he operated a casino in the nearby village of Pyla and was preparing to open a second one.
Pyla village is an UN-controlled area which inhabited by Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
Seven casinos currently operate in the village by the Greek Cypriots.