Monday, April 18, 2011

Police probe Britons' mystery trip

Police probe Britons' mystery trip : Detectives in Florida are investigating what led two British holidaymakers from a night out in the centre of Sarasota to the deprived, crime-ridden district where they were shot dead.

The bullet-ridden bodies of James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, were discovered on a street in the city's run-down district of Newtown at about 3am on Saturday and detectives from Sarasota Police Department said it was "very unusual" to find tourists in the neighbourhood.

Shawn Tyson, a 16-year-old juvenile who lives close to the murder scene, is being held by police on suspicion of two counts of murder. The teenager was previously arrested on April 7 for aggravated assault with a handgun, reportedly for firing into a car, police said.

Mr Kouzaris, from Northampton, was on a three-week holiday in Florida with Mr Cooper and his family, from Warwick. The pair had been on a night out visiting bars in downtown Sarasota on the Friday evening, before being found dead hours later in a narrow one-way street 20 blocks away.

Captain Paul Sutton said detectives were "examining all theories" and "keeping an open mind" as to how and why the friends came to be in the "no-go" area. He said the Britons may have befriended someone who gave them a lift, could have got a cab detectives have not yet traced, or may have walked.

Early reports that the men had been murdered with a machine gun were quashed by Capt Sutton, but it is believed they were each shot a number of times.

Residents in the Newtown area speculated that the men could have been lured into an ambush by a gang of masked gunmen.

Mr Cooper had spent Thursday night with American friend Gina Cross, 31. Ms Cross, from Sarasota, told the Daily Mail: "I don't know how they ended up where they were found. It's a very bad neighbourhood - somewhere where I would not even drive."

Mr Kouzaris, a popular and successful amateur rugby player, spent several months travelling in South America before his death, visiting Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia. His parents described him as a "wonderful son" in a brief statement released through Northamptonshire Police.

Mr Cooper represented Warwickshire at tennis and once played Andy Murray in a junior tournament. He studied at Sheffield University's management school before becoming a full-time tennis coach for Warwick University-based company inspire2coach, where he had just been promoted to a head coach position and was due to start his new role after returning from holiday.

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