Gun that killed healer matches one purchased by Canadian killed in Peru

The gun that killed a plant healer in Peru matches one purchased by a Canadian man who was slain in the Amazon rain forest earlier this month, local authorities said this week.

Peru’s justice ministry said Thursday that Sebastian Woodroffe, 41, purchased the gun on April 3 — a few weeks before Olivia Arevalo Lomas, an octogenarian from the Shipibo-Konibo tribe of northeastern Peru, was killed.

Peruvian authorities have said the Vancouver Island man was dragged by the neck to his death shortly after he was accused of killing Arevalo Lomas.

Two people have been arrested in connection with his death.

The suspects were identified in a cellphone video showing the moment Woodroffe was killed last week, prosecutors have said.

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Officials have also said forensic experts were studying Woodroffe’s body to determine whether he had any involvement in Arevalo Lomas’s death.

Woodroffe posted online ahead of his trip to Peru, saying he hoped that an apprenticeship with a plant healer would help his goal of changing careers to become an addiction counsellor using hallucinogenic medicine.

Global Affairs Canada has confirmed that a Canadian killed in Peru was linked to the alleged assassination of Arevalo Lomas, and has said it’s providing consular assistance to the Canadian’s family.

The government also extended its condolences following Arevalo Lomas’s death.

Peru’s ombudsman has condemned the death of the Indigenous elder in a series of tweets, describing Arevalo Lomas as a champion of her people’s cultural rights.

The ombudsman says increased illegal activity is putting Indigenous people’s lives at risk.

The Canadian Press