Age: 23
Sex: male
Date: 12 Sep 2010
Place: Pondfield House, Elder Road, West Norwood, Southeast London
Ricardo Cunha was shot in his flat in Elder Road, West Norwood on the night of Saturday, 11 September 2010.
It was thought that he was not the intended target and was the victim of mistaken identity.
Ricardo Cunha and his girlfriend were watching Match of the Day on the television together at around 23.20pm on 11 September 2010 in the bedroom of their flat in Pondfield House, Elder Road when there was a knock at the door and noises outside like someone was breaking into their flat. When Ricardo Cunha went to look out of the front bedroom window he was shot in the head.
When he was found he had a gunshot wound to the head and there was a bullet hole in the ceiling. He was found on the floor, hanging off the bed by his t-shirt, between the bed and the wall.
An ambulance was called but he soon died on the scene.
The cause of death was given as a gunshot wound to the head.
The police said that they thought the gun used might have been a 1924 Webley Mark Six Revolver. It was also thought that the gun might have been stolen from someone in a burglary which wasn't reported before coming into the hand of Ricardo Cunha's killers. They said that they knew that a similar gun was fired three days later in a separate incident in Picton House on the Clapham Park Estate, Brixton on 14 September 2010, about 4 miles away. The gun was then found the next day on Clapham Manor Estate and was identified as the type of gun that had been used to kill Ricardo Cunha. Police said that it dated from around 1924 and had probably been a keepsake from the second world-war.
Neighbours who heard the shot said that they thought it was a firework and said that they heard footsteps running off after.
Ricardo Cunha had been living in the flat for three months. It was thought that he might have been a victim of mistaken identity or that his murderer had got the wrong address and had been trying to target some other person thought to have been at the address.
It was also thought that Ricardo Cunha might have become involved in a disagreement with someone and that he was the intended target.
Ricardo Cunha was Portuguese and worked as a window cleaner. He shared the flat with his mother. It was said that he was not involved in any criminal activity whatsoever.