VANCOUVER 鈥� A father from 91原创 shot dead in his Costa Rican home appears to be the victim of a targeted hit, according to a private investigator in the Central American country.
Brad Deering, 42, and three others were inside his gated-community home in San Jos茅 Thursday morning, when three men stormed the house, shot and killed Deering and tied up the others. San Jos茅 is the capital of Costa Rica.
According to a Costa Rica private investigator, Douglas Smith, local police are calling the attack a home invasion, but 鈥渢hat doesn鈥檛 make sense.鈥�
鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 a household robbery, this was a hit,鈥� Smith said from his office in Costa Rica. 鈥淭hey had one intention and one intention alone of capping him.鈥�
While Smith isn鈥檛 investigating the case, he was made aware of the slaying by close friends of Deering.
According to Smith, three men dressed as security personnel fooled a guard outside Deering鈥檚 home into letting them in by claiming they were there to fix an alarm system.
They tied up the guard, crashed Deering鈥檚 home and tied up three of the four people inside while Deering tried to escape. The intruders shot Deering three times.
鈥淎 home invasion usually is at night and they crash the doors, crash the gates and ... most of the time in home invasions, they wait for people not to be there,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淚n this case they went in prepared, tied people up in broad daylight. It doesn鈥檛 measure up as a home invasion.鈥�
Smith said Deering 鈥渟old futures鈥� in Costa Rica 鈥� an unregulated and a dangerous business in that country.
鈥淏uying futures as an investment is the most dangerous, most speculative investment you can possibly do,鈥� he said. 鈥淏uying them from any broker in Costa Rica you鈥檙e playing in the twilight zone.鈥�
Futures are financial contracts obliging the buyer to purchase an asset (or the seller to sell an asset) at a predetermined date and price. Futures markets are characterized by the ability to use high leverage relative to stock markets.
Smith speculates that someone targeted Deering because they either lost money in a deal with him, or simply because his wealth was known. He owned three fancy cars and lived in a high-end home.
鈥淗e had all the toys in the world,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淗e made himself a target in Costa Rica.鈥�
According to Smith, those who knew Deering had 鈥渘othing but nice things鈥� to say about him. He also had a young daughter from a previous marriage.
The 91原创 consulate did not respond to media requests for information by deadline, but since Deering鈥檚 murder an advisory warning to 鈥渆xercise a high degree of caution鈥� when travelling to Costa Rica has been posted on a Government of Canada travel website.
鈥淭here is no nationwide advisory for Costa Rica. However, you should exercise a high degree of caution and be vigilant at all times due to increasing levels of violent crime,鈥� the advisory reads.
