Trip to See Bad Bunny Turns Tragic: US Tourist Fatally Shot in Puerto Rico

To U.S. tourist who was visiting Puerto Rico for Bad Bunny’s residency was fatally shot early Sunday at La Perla, a popular seaside shantytown, police said.

The victim was identified as Kevin Mares, a 25-year-old who lived in New York, according to a police statement.

The shooting happened in the predawn hours at a nightspot called “Shelter for Mistreated Men” in La Perla, a coastal community that has struggled to shed its dark reputation.

Homicide detective Sgt. Arnaldo Ruiz said in a phone interview that the shooting took place when several people near Mares began arguing and one pulled out a gun and shot at least three people, including Mares. Two other men who live in La Perla were injured and remain hospitalized.

Ruiz said Mares was an innocent bystander. He was with three other friends who police told 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.

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 were also 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 lived 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.