Accused murderer spent 18 months in jail for illegal possession of gun linked to the crime

Even as a Dorchester District Court judge was ordering Junior DaSilva held without bail for the 2006 murder of Guiliardo Rodrigues, investigators continued to hunt for a second man they say blasted Rodrigues and two friends from the windows of an SUV.

"We are extremely interested in the identity of the second gunman at the scene and we cannot rule out additional charges against other defendants," Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, said.

The District Attorney's office says Rodrigues's friends escaped unharmed when DaSilva and the at-large suspect fired at them repeatedly on Draper Street on April 1, but that Rodrigues's body was found six days later, apparently where he collapsed while fleeing, not far away on Mt. Ida St.

DaSilva was arrested three days after the shooting - and three days before Rodrigues's body was found - for illegal gun possession, was convicted and spent 18 months in jail, according to the DA's office. Forensics matched the gun to casings found at the shooting scene - although not the bullets that killed Rodrigues - the DA's office says.

Although DaSilva is from Roxbury and the shooting took place in Dorchester, the DA's office decliined to say whether the murder had anything to do with ongoing feuds between small Cape Verdean gangs in the two neighborhoods.

Innocent, etc.