New York tourist shot dead in La Perla during Bad Bunny concert
Kevin Mares, 25, a resident of New York, was fatally shot in the coastal neighbourhood of La Perla, San Juan. He had travelled to Puerto Rico to attend one of Bad Bunny's concerts.
New York tourist fatally shot in La Perla during Bad Bunny concert
Kevin Mares, 25, a resident of New York, was shot dead in the early hours of Sunday in the coastal neighbourhood of La Perla, in San Juan, according to 6abc.com citing Puerto Rico Police.
The shooting occurred at a nightclub known as "Refugio de Hombres Maltratados". Homicide sergeant Arnaldo Ruiz said in a telephone interview that the incident erupted when several people near Mares began to argue and one of them drew a weapon and opened fire on at least three people. Two other men, residents of La Perla, were wounded and remain hospitalised.
Ruiz described Mares as an innocent bystander. The young man was with three friends, also from New York, who told police they had travelled to Puerto Rico to attend one of Bad Bunny's 30 concerts, a tour that has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to the territory.
Mares was shot in the left side of his abdomen and was transported to Puerto Rico's largest public hospital, where he died. Police indicated they still do not know the motive for the dispute and do not have a description of the shooter. "We have very little information," Ruiz said.
La Perla, a community of a few hundred residents located on the margins of Old San Juan, carried a reputation for violence and heroin trafficking for decades. In 2011, hundreds of federal agents raided the neighbourhood, detained dozens of people and arrested a well-known community leader who was subsequently sentenced to prison, which helped significantly reduce violence.
The neighbourhood gained international projection when Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee included it in the music video for "Despacito", which further boosted its transformation as a tourist attraction. However, violent incidents have not entirely disappeared.
In February 2023, three tourists were stabbed after a person, according to police, demanded that they stop filming within the community. In April 2024, a 24-year-old tourist from Delaware was killed and his body set on fire; police indicated that the young man and a companion had been attacked after purchasing drugs and that both had been taking photographs in La Perla despite having received warnings against doing so.
So far this year, Puerto Rico has recorded 277 homicides, compared with 325 in the same period of the previous year, according to official figures.
Source: Google News PR — San Juan