A US tourist visiting Puerto Rico for a Bad Bunny residency has been fatally shot in the early hours of Sunday morning at La Perla, a well-known seaside community, according to police.
The victim has been identified as 25-year-old Kevin Mares, a New York resident. The shooting occurred at a nightspot named ‘Shelter for Mistreated Men’ within La Perla, a coastal area that has long grappled with its troubled past.
Homicide detective Sergeant Arnaldo Ruiz stated in a phone interview that the incident unfolded when an argument broke out among several individuals near Mr Mares. A firearm was then produced, and at least three people, including Mr Mares, were shot.
Two other men, residents of La Perla, sustained injuries and are currently hospitalised.
Ruiz said Mares was an innocent bystander. He was with three other friends who told police they were in Puerto Rico for one of Bad Bunny’s 30 concerts, which have attracted tens of thousands of visitors to the U.S. territory.
Mares was shot on the left side of his abdomen and was taken to Puerto Rico’s largest public hospital, where he died, authorities said.
Ruiz said police don’t yet know what the people were arguing about and don’t have a description of the shooter. “We have very little information,” he said.
Ruiz added that Mares’ three friends also were from New York. He didn’t have their hometowns.
La Perla is located on the outskirts of a historic district popular with tourists known as Old San Juan. A couple hundred people live in the shantytown, which once served as Puerto Rico’s biggest distribution point for heroin and was known for its violence.
Police used to avoid the community, which used to have a sign proclaiming, “Not open to visitors. Do not enter.”
But violence eased when hundreds of federal agents raided the slum in 2011 and arrested dozens of people, including a well-known community leader who was later convicted.
The neighborhood became even safer and more welcoming after Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featured it in their hit, “Despacito.”
But isolated, violent incidents persist.
In February 2023, three tourists were stabbed after police said a person told them to stop filming inside the community.
