It was actually the newspaper that first started saying that Gianni was at the mall with Salvador and Ilona.
Even after the first reports giving the names of the victims came out, and people started talking more, if Gianni came up, it was in the context of not knowing where he was or just that Ilona was with her BF's brother.
Most of the references to the possibility that Gianni had also been at the mall only came (and still mostly only are coming) from people alluding back to the source being the U-T (our paper).
Most are still holding to him not being seen after earlier that night (on the 23rd - where as the shooting was technically the 24th) at his home in Tierrasanta. That's also what the missing poster (or at least the ones I have seen) all state.
Belvedere, who was last seen at approximately 10 p.m. on Dec. 23 in Tierrasanta, is wanted by police in connection with the Christmas Eve shooting of two people in a Mission Valley mall parking lot.
http://www.10news.com/news/sd-police-looking-for-missing-brother-of-shooting-victim12262013
And even what's being conveyed about that to the public as far as what his family seems to think was his last known location varies.
Family members said they don’t know why Salvatore Belvedere was at the Mission Valley mall with his brother's girlfriend on Tuesday.
That one - at least to me - intones that Salvatore and Ilona were there at the mall together, but not with Gianni.
It makes me wonder if that while they were all close and both brothers would take her places, that they didn't actually "do" things as just the two of them, thus making it (perhaps) more significant that they were together.
It also makes me wonder if they knew they were there together, or are only saying that post-shooting, because of the fact that they were obviously (at least in the car) together b/c they were found there.
And I'm curious how they know either way whether or not Gianni was also with them. I wish they'd say who was the last one who SAW Gianni and what he last said about his plans or his general demeanor.
Family members say Gianni may have also been at the mall at the time of the shooting and has not been seen since.
This obviously seems to state something else...
But if he was seen at the mall, who saw him? Just a witness? Surveillance?
They do NOT say that he may have been seen at the mall
WITH them. Those could be two entirely different scenarios and could be significant (both if he was there and then whether he was or wasn't with Salvatore and Ilona)
And then that changes the timeline of when he was last seen. If he was last seen at the mall, then that was after the 10 pm in Tierrasanta thing. That's obviously also important.