VANCOUVER -- New details are emerging about the dramatic arrest of one of B.C.’s most wanted fugitives down in California.
Brandon Teixeira managed to evade police for two years before the international manhunt ended in a rural part of Butte County near Oroville on Sunday.
"We've found him. We've found Mr.Teixeira and now he's going to have his day in court,” Sgt. Frank Jang of the Intergrated Homicide Investigation Team told reporters Monday.
Teixeira is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of 28-year-old Nicholas Khabra, who was gunned down in Surrey on Oct. 23, 2017.
The accused is believed to have been living in a home in Oroville, a small community north of Sacramento, for nearly a year.
Canadian and U.S authorities spent days staking out the property before moving in over the American Thanksgiving weekend. When they finally did, Teixeira allegedly made a run for it, getting into a white SUV and ramming into an armored SWAT vehicle before quickly backing up to flee. A second armored vehicle disabled him.
Days after his arrest, the wreckage of the SUV remains at the scene of the dramatic takedown.
"It was a very dangerous situation. I'm thankful that our personnel are safe," said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.
“Had he been able to get around this particular vehicle that was in his way, he would have been directly in the path of some of our SWAT officers."
Teixeira got out of the car and tried to get away on foot but a police dog took him down. Inside the home, police say they found 12 kg. of heroin, more than 1,000 OxyContin and Percocet pills, and an estimated 18 kg. of marijuana.
Thirty-year-old Jeff Guerrier of New York was also arrested and charged with harboring and concealing a wanted felon, possession of heroin for sale, and possession of marijuana for sale.
Since April, IHIT joined forces with the BOLO program and Crime Stoppers, offering a $55,000 reward and it worked. While police will not comment on the details, they say it was a series of tips that led them to Teixera’s whereabouts.
"We are still trying to assert what ultimately brought him here. how it was that he landed here in Butte County. We don’t have a clear understanding of that point but that is something that as the investigation moves forward we hope to get more answers for,” said Honea.
Teixeira remains in the custody of U.S Marshals south of the border. There is no exact date yet but police say extradition proceedings to bring him back to Canada will begin soon.
