A fugitive accused of shooting a Liverpool man in the back outside a bar in Los Angeles has been arrested in a house stashed with high powered weapons including assault rifles.
Shaun Byrne, 35, was brought back from the brink of death by paramedics and officers from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) after the incident, in the Venice Beach area, on Saturday, July 30. Shaun, a chief engineer specialising in yachts, spent weeks in hospital and required surgery after the bullet passed through his body and exited his chest.
Another man, Shaun's friend Charlie Rodman, from the Solihull area, was also shot in the hip in the incident. Last month the LAPD launched a wanted appeal for Brandon Manyo Dixon, the man identified as the prime suspect in the shooting, as well as chilling CCTV footage of the incident.
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This week the force announced Dixon had been taken into custody in West Virginia, after a manhunt involving the assistance of the US Marshal service. Responding to the news, Shaun, from Old Swan, told the ECHO: "We are all very happy. He had an [assault rifle] with him when he got arrested so it was just a matter of time before someone would have been killed.
"It was a mad few months but we came through it and got some closure and can start fresh next year." When asked if he would need to attend court, whether in person or via video-link to the US, Shaun added: "I'm not sure, if they ask I'll go in person to look in his eyes.
"But with the videos and evidence in my opinion they are going away for a long time."
Detectives said Dixon was initially believed to have fled to Memphis, Tennessee, after the shooting, but had already moved on when a taskforce raided an address there.
However the US Marshals tracked Dixon again to his final hiding place, where the West Virginia US Marshal Task Force carried out surveillance. The marshals had also received intelligence that Dixon was in possession of several "high-powered firearms".
A raid was carried out on December 16 involving a local police force SWAT team, but Dixon was arrested without incident. The LAPD released pictures of some of the weapons discovered inside the address, including what appears to be a military style assault rifle leaning against a wall with a Christmas stocking hanging nearby.
The property also contained a gold semi-automatic handgun, a revolver mounted onto a wall, and a black semi-automatic handgun.
Speaking about the incident last month, Shaun said he has little memory of the moment his holiday turned into near tragedy. According to police, Shaun and Charlie became involved in a heated argument with an American man, when his friend pulled out a gun and fired from close range.
He said the bullet passed through his lung "very close to my heart", and a short time after being struck he collapsed. He said: "I blacked out. They were doing CPR and I wasn’t responding."
Shaun said the next thing he could recall was waking up in the Ronald Reagan UCLA hospital after emergency surgery.
He said: "I found out I got shot in the back and the bullet went straight through, exiting my chest. I was treated at the scene by the LAPD and paramedics who resuscitated me.
"I stayed in hospital for a few weeks then flew home. I've been recovering and I'm good now. I can’t complain though, it could have been a lot worse so I'm lucky. The LAPD and UCLA hospital staff definitely saved my life."
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