A Serbian man who was shot by a gunman in front of his wife and son in Brazil last week was, in fact, a hitman who had been on the run for almost a decade, Brazilian police have stated.
The information emerged post mortem when it was revealed that 43-year-old Darko Gleiser had been living under a false identity since 2017.
“Investigations showed that he lived here clandestinely and under a false Slovenian name,” the lead officer on the investigation, Luiz Ricardo Lara Dias Jr., told reporters on Friday.
Gleiser, whose real name was Dejon Kovac, had been on Interpol’s wanted list since 2014, when he fled Montenegro for Bosnia following the execution of a man at a prison gate on Dec. 25 of that year. Police believe that Gleiser’s criminal past may have sparked the execution, Fox News reported.
The information about his criminal activities emerged after police conducted online searches, which helped them determine that Gleiser had been a contract killer who was wanted in Montenegro for multiple homicides and other crimes.
Upon consulting with the Slovenian consulate in São Paulo, authorities learned that the passport Gleiser was using had been lost by a Slovenian citizen in 2017.
After fleeing Bosnia, Gleiser likely travelled to Brazil, according to police, where he lived under a false identity for nine years. He met his future wife—who said she was unaware of his true identity—at some point between 2015 and 2016. The couple then went on to live in Santos, Brazil.
The case has raised eyebrows throughout the local community where Gleiser and his family resided. Some friends and those acquainted with the couple painted an entirely different picture of the man, who they said had a friendly reputation in the local community, often mingling with other parents when dropping off his three-year-old son to school—despite his limited knowledge of Portuguese.
Other accounts from locals portrayed Gleiser as a kind family man who often played games with his son in the street, and would visit local shops with his family, as reported by the local news outlet Folha de S.Paulo.
According to Gleiser’s own accounts, he had worked as a carpenter, and he and his family received earnings from a business he owned in Slovenia, which he claimed was his home country.
Gleiser was shot by a masked gunman at point-blank range in front of his family, local CCTV footage showed. The family were on their way home from a bike ride when they encountered the assailant, who ran across the road.
The killer has not been identified. All that is known is his attire and that he fled the crime scene in a black car. Police were alerted after a neighbor heard gunfire and Gleiser’s wife screaming. The neighbor then called the military police and emergency services.
Gleiser’s death was confirmed upon his arrival at a local hospital.
While the search for Gleiser’s killer continues, joint efforts by Brazilian and Montenegrin police are underway to gather more information. Until then, authorities have little else to go on.
NTD contacted the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Brazil, the Civil Police of the State of São Paulo, and Interpol, but did not receive replies prior to the publication of this article.
