ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Tara Bradbury
The Telegram
@tara_bradbury
Lying face down on the ground after being forced out of a vehicle by police, who thought he was about to try and kill someone, John Squires reportedly gave up a firearm willingly.
“There’s a gun in my crotch,” he allegedly told the officer arresting him.
As Squires rolled over, the officer saw the imprint of the weapon in the front of his pants. When he took it out, Squires was quick to give up another piece of information: the handgun was loaded.
Through the testimony of a number of police officers late Thursday and Friday, the court heard details of how police had tracked Squires, 36, and Dustin Etheridge, 28, throughout the day on May 16, 2018, then moved in to arrest them as they were allegedly about to put in action a murder plot.
Etheridge was the target of a joint RNC/RCMP operation called Tarantula, which began as a drug trafficking investigation and saw police obtaining authorization to intercept his phone calls and texts and to plant hidden recording devices in his home, among other places.
In May 2018, police say, they caught Etheridge, Squires, and two other men — Brandon Glasco, 21, and Shane Clarke, 26 — talking about firearms and devising a plot to kill another man, Bradley Summers.
Summers was known to police, testimony revealed, and was considered to be dangerous.
Etheridge has pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to murder as well as a weapons charge and drugs offences and is set to be sentenced next month.
The other three men have pleaded not guilty to murder conspiracy, and their trial began in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John’s this week with the presentation of wiretap and hidden probe recordings of their alleged conversations.
The recordings captured discussions about getting a car, buying gloves and “getting it done.”
“Bradley’s dead,” a man was heard saying on one recording, which also featured the sound of what police say is a magazine being loaded into a firearm.
Etheridge is alleged to have been the ringleader of the plot to kill Summers, and police suspected he was involved in cocaine trafficking and firearms deals, and had associates to help him. He was in a relationship at one point with Summers’ girlfriend, the court heard.
Believing it was the day the accused were going to go through with their plan, police tracked Etheridge around St. John’s, keeping meticulous notes of times and locations, which they reviewed for the court.
From Etheridge’s Gower Street apartment building, undercover officers followed him at different times in the day to St. Clare’s hospital, where they say he picked up Glasco, Squires’ centre-city residence and the Avalon Mall.
With Squires in the passenger side of his Cadillac, police say, Etheridge made stops at a Mr. Sub location and various homes around the city. There was a stop at a Tim Hortons – where Etheridge reportedly waited in the car as Squires got out and met with two men in a Mitsubishi – and two stops in the area of Ropewalk Lane, where Squires allegedly walked down a path to a home off Mundy Pond Road and banged on the door.
Police say Etheridge and Squires left the downtown apartment building on foot around 8 p.m., returning in a Honda Civic.
The surveillance team was watching as the vehicle drove up to a Saturn Ion parked on Eric Street. Two men got out and got into the Ion while others remained in the Civic, and police teams followed both vehicles. The Civic was eventually lost in traffic, while the Ion, reportedly driven by Etheridge with Squires aboard, was tracked to Cairo Street in the Rabbittown neighbourhood of the city.
That’s where Summers was located.
Officers surrounded the Ion with their vehicles before arresting Etheridge and Squires and seizing the loaded handgun.
At the start of the trial, Squires pleaded guilty to three weapons charges in relation to the possession of the weapon.
Glasco and Clarke were arrested on the murder conspiracy charge three months later. Glasco is also facing two charges related to a handgun that was seized by police from his vehicle after he was pulled over in June 2018.
A number of other people said to be connected to Etheridge were also charged with drug offences as part of the Tarantula investigation, which crossed into New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario. The operation saw the seizure of seven kilograms of cocaine, about $240,000 cash, 20 weapons and ammunition, two vehicles and drug paraphernalia.
The trial continues Monday, when evidence is expected to be presented from some of the many cellphones seized during the Tarantula investigation.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury Facebook: @telegramtara
