Tyson Butcher’s Jonathan Pace dies from gunshot wounds

The man accused of the attempted murder of Vince Muscat 'il-Kohhu' has been shot dead.

Police said that Jonathan Pace, 31 of Zejtun, also known as the owner of Tyson Butcher, had been shot at while standing in a residence's balcony, at around 9:15pm on Triq Mahatma Gandhi, in Fgura.

Pace passed away shortly afterwards at Mater Dei Hospital, from wounds suffered in the back and in the head.

Duty Magistrate Neville Camilleri has appointed court experts to assist in the investigation.

Pace had been accused of shooting Vince Muscat, 52, three times in the neck and hand back in April and was out on bail.

As the owner of Tyson Butcher, Pace had been declared bankrupt by a court back in December 2013 after being ordered to pay over €90,000 in debts and for advertising taken out with national television station PBS.

Pace was accused by victim Vince Muscat of having shot at him on the evening of 8 April in Triq Bordin, Msida. Muscat - one of the men allegedly involved in the heist on the HSBC headquarters in 2010 - was shot at while still in his car. Muscat had been out on bail despite facing charges of having fired over 30 shots at the police during the attempted HSBC heist.

Muscat then drove himself to the Msida police station with blood gushing from his head before being rushed to Mater Dei Hospital, where he was certified to be suffering from life threatening injuries.

He later claimed in court that he had identified his shooter as being Jonathan Pace:

“Someone got out of the passenger’s side and started shooting. He was holding a large pistol in his right hand, and as soon as he got out of the car he rolled back his hood, and wore his mask with his left hand. At this point, I recognised the shooter as being Jonathan Pace,” he said.

Pace had been out on bail against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €4,000.

Muscat suffered three shots to his head in the attempted murder, and as a result lost sight in his right eye and now has a bullet partially lodged in his head.

Muscat claimed that only two days before the attempted murder, he and Pace had been at home drinking coffee and chatting together.