Danelo Cavalcante update: Pennsylvania residents stock up on guns as murderer now armed with .22 caliber rifle

Since his escape from Chester County Prison on 31 August, Cavalcante has travelled more than 30 miles from his initial hiding spot in Longwood Gardens. US Marshalls, FBI, SWAT teams and local and state police have scrambled to keep up with Cavalcante’s moves, despite assertions by officials that the manhunt is “wearing him down.”

During a press conference on Tuesday morning, Lt Col George Bivens downplayed the fact that Cavalcante is now armed. Mr Bivens insisted that the initially established search perimeter was strong and no mistakes were made — a perimeter that had to be repeatedly expanded as Cavalcante kept sneaking past it, until it was dropped altogether on Monday.

“We have considered him dangerous from the very start, it changes nothing,” Mr Bivens told reporters. “We just now absolutely know that he has a weapon.”

The Independent’s Andrea Blanco reports:

Pennsylvania police have confirmed that escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante is now ‘armed’ after stealing a .22 calibre rifle from a home in East Nantmeal Township on Monday 12 September.

Pennsylvania State Police recovered nearby the green hoodie and shoes the prisoner was pictured wearing over the weekend and are now focusing their search on South Coventry Township, warning locals to “lock all doors and windows”.

The manhunt for Cavalcante is entering its 12th day, after he escaped from Chester County Prison in Pennsylvania where he was sentenced to life without parole for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death.

Lt Col told CNN that there was no evidence suggesting Cavalcante had suffered injuries during a confrontation with a South Coventry Township homeowner who shot at the fugitive after he stole a .22 rifle.

“Throughout this, I’ve maintained a high level of confidence. I would hope that we’re able to get him in this perimeter. We’re going to search and I anticipate we will find him in there. All I can tell you is we will do our absolute best. We will capture him one way or another,” Mr Bivens said.

“There is no blood or anything on sight that leads us to believe that [the homeowner] wounded Cavalcante — it was just enough to force Cavalcante to back out of the premises and back out into the woods.”

The challenge in finding the escaped, convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante is the terrain of the search area, Lt Col George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police has said.

This expansive area is densely forested, offering numerous hiding spots, he added.

Establishing a secure search perimeter has proven to be problematic due to the presence of an extensive underground tunnel system, sizable drainage ditches, and thick vegetation, Mr Bivens points out.

Danelo Cavalcante’s mother has spoken out in defence of her convicted murderer son nearly two weeks after he escaped from a prison in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Cavalcante’s mother Iracema Cavalcante said in an interview with The New York Times that she believes her 34-year-old son is better off dead than spending the rest of his life behind bars for the April 2021 murder of his former girlfriend Deborah Brandao.

“If it’s to go to a place to suffer and die in that place, it’s better to die soon,” Ms Cavalcante told the Times on Tuesday. “You don’t have to suffer so much.”

Ms Cavalante acknowledged that her son killed his former ex-girlfriend in front of her young children but claimed that he only did it because he felt cornered.

“Did it happen? It happened,” Ms Cavalcante told the Times. “But it happened because of the stranglehold she put on him, the stance she took with him … It wasn’t femicide. He had to, he had no other choice.”

A man fired seven times at Cavalcante after the convicted prisoner broke into his home on Monday night.

Police confirmed the shooting at a press conference on Tuesday morning, saying Cavalcante is “armed and dangerous” and a search of the area near the home was fruitless.

The Independent’s Martha McHardy reports:

Authorities hunting for convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante have said they’re hopeful their chances of capturing him will increase now that he has moved to an urban area.

Over the weekend, Cavalcante managed to steal a van near a dairy farm in Longwood Gardens, in Popocson Township — where he had been hiding since his escape from Chester County Prison on 31 August. The fugitive drove the white 2020 Ford Transit van more than 20 miles to Phoenixville and unsuccessfully tried to get help from two former coworkers who were not home when Cavalcante showed up at their door.

Read the full story here:

Danelo Cavalcante was sentenced to life behind bars for the April 2021 murder of Deborah Brandao.

He broke free from jail days later, sparking an ongoing manhunt.

The Independent’s Faiza Saqib and Andrea Blanco report:

Chester County residents are growing increasingly frustrated as police scramble to keep up with the ‘dangerous’ killer’s moves, writes Andrea Blanco: