by SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three American tourists were stabbed to death in Puerto Rico early Monday after police said someone told them to stop filming in a well-known beach community known as La Perla, which is popular with locals. visitors.
The confrontation began when one of the tourists, who lives in South Carolina, began filming a mobile burger cart and was told to stop and leave the area, police said.
Two of the tourists remain hospitalized, including one who was stabbed six times, police said.
No one has been arrested.
The attack came nearly two years after a Delaware tourist was killed and set on fire after police said they warned him not to take pictures while buying drugs at La Perla. A friend of his was also hit but survived.
La Perla is located in the historic part of Puerto Rico’s capital known as Old San Juan and became famous after it was featured in the video for «Despacito,» a song released in 2017 by Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.
The community was once a dangerous slum considered the island’s largest heroin distribution point, but crime has declined since a 2011 raid by federal agents.
