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McAfee antivirus founder wanted for murder

Drugs, gangsters and guns: programmer and anti-virus pioneer John McAfee is on the run and wanted for murder after months of strange behaviour.

Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr

Drugs, gangsters and guns: programmer and anti-virus pioneer John McAfee is on the run and wanted for murder after years of strange behaviour.

John McAfee.(Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET Australia)

John McAfee is on the run from Belize police as the prime suspect in a shooting, according to an exclusive report on Gizmodo.

The victim, Gregory Faull, a builder who originally hailed from Florida, US, was shot dead in his home in San Pedro Town on Ambergris Caye, on the night of 10 November 2012. Apparently, Faull had filed an official complaint against 67-year-old McAfee the previous Wednesday, saying that the programmer had been firing guns.

The official police report said:

On Sunday the 11th November, 2012 at 8am, acting upon information received, San Pedro Police visited 5 3/4 miles North of San Pedro Town where they saw 52 year old US National Mr Gregory Viant Faull, of the said address, lying face up in a pool of blood with an apparent gunshot wound on the upper rear part of his head, apparently dead.

An iPhone and laptop were also reported missing, and a single 9mm shell was found outside the home.

According to Gizmodo, McAfee has for some time been experimenting with psychoactive drugs, including bath salts. In April, his home was raided by the Belize Gang Suppression Unit in a search for unlicensed weapons and drugs, although later, all charges against McAfee were dropped.