LAWRENCE — One of the suspects in the double fatal shooting at La Guira Restaurant this weekend avoided prosecution on drug dealing charges earlier this year.
A second suspect in the shooting rampage is in the country illegally, according to authorities.
Johan Saintclair, 30, of 399 Andover St., faced charges earlier this year in Lowell District Court in a drug trafficking arrest in Littleton.
Judge Lynn Rooney granted a motion to suppress evidence in the case against Saintclair. The Middlesex District Attorney's Office could not proceed further and the case was dismissed.
"We were unable to continue with the trial based on the lack of evidence due to the motion to suppress that was allowed," Cara O'Brien, spokeswoman for the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, said yesterday.
Littleton police arrested Saintclair and another man in February 2009 on multiple drug dealing charges.
Saintclair and Fernando Guerrero-Lara, 27, of 77 S. Union St., are both charged with murder in the La Guira shooting reported early Monday. A man and a woman died. Three other people were injured inside the restaurant at 205 Broadway.
The Essex District Attorney's Office released the names of the two dead victims. They are Amarilis Roldan, 24, of 148 Geneva St. in Boston, and Juan Suazo, 24, of 887 Hyde Park Ave. in Hyde Park. The identities of the other three people injured in the shooting were not released.
Federal immigration officials have issued a detainer for Guerrero-Lara and are looking into issuing a detainer for Saintclair. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issues detainers to other law enforcement agencies when it believes a suspect has violated immigration law.
"An ICE detainer has been placed on Fernando Guerrero-Lara on Sept. 6, 2010 and we are aware of Johan Manuel Saint Clair (sic) and will take appropriate action as the situation warrants," according to a statement from Harold Ort, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman.
Lawrence police Chief John Romero said with Saintclair and Guerrero-Lara in custody and charged with murder, the investigation continues.
"We are still in the process of confirming their identities," Romero said.
Police also are trying to determine the identities of the two other men who were in a getaway car with Saintclair and Guerrero-Lara and who were able to get out and elude capture. "We have not been able to identify the two men who got out of the car," Romero said. "We haven't established what role they might have played in the shooting."
He said police have interviewed a number of people and people have come forward with information.
"We've made good progress up to this point," Romero said. "It is just a matter of pulling it all together."
