Witness to Florida murders speaks out

British tourists James Cooper and James Kouzaris were shot as they tried to escape gunman, says eyewitness Two British holidaymakers killed in a Sarasota street tried in vain to run away after they were shot, according to a new eyewitness. James Cooper, 25, was shot three times in the chest, ran from a driveway, ducked under a clothes line and tripped on tree roots before sitting down on a patch of grass where he died, the witness said. Cooper’s friend, James Kouzaris, 24, was shot in the head and ran across the street in the opposite direction before collapsing and dying in front of a pickup truck, according to the report published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune newspaper. The graphic account of their final moments would seem to support growing speculation that the two Britons, who were on a three-week holiday in Florida with Cooper’s parents, were victims of a robbery. Their bodies were found at 3am on Saturday, about 15 metres apart on Carver Court, a street in the Newtown neighbourhood of the city where the anonymous eyewitness lives. Cooper, of Warwick, and Kouzaris, from Northampton, are known to have been drinking in a downtown Sarasota bar less than two hours before they were shot, but Sarasota detectives admit they have little idea how or why they went to Newtown, a violent neighbourhood a couple of miles away, notorious for gang activity. Police have not corroborated the account, and the Herald-Tribune article states that the witness, who has been interviewed by investigators, saw only the aftermath of the shooting, not the shots being fired. But his testimony could yet be crucial in the case against 16-year-old Shawn Tyson, a Newtown resident who was arrested 24 hours after the double shooting, and who will face trial as an adult on two counts of first-degree homicide. “I haven’t slept since it happened because I feel I was the last person to see these guys alive,” the witness said, recalling that he heard five shots. “I thought it was a 9mm or .38 calibre.” The newspaper said the witness asked for his identity to be withheld because he feared retribution. It has also emerged that nine CCTV cameras that were due to have been working by the end of last year around The Courts public housing complex, where the killings took place, were never installed. Detectives say it has denied them a crucial opportunity to see who was in the area in the early hours of the morning. “Even if it’s not the suspect, even if it’s not the victims, that may give you people we need to talk who are potential witnesses to the crime,” said Captain Paul Sutton of the Sarasota police department. Police on Wednesday released the recording of a frantic emergency call made by a woman who saw one of the bodies lying in the street. “We seen a white dude laying, he’s … blood everywhere, he’s just laid out,” she is heard telling a 911 operator in the call received at 2.56am on Saturday. “I don’t know if he’s dead or not.” Cooper’s parents, Stanley and Sandra, paid tribute to their son in their first comments since returning from the Florida holiday to their home in Warwick. “As his parents, our lives have been shattered, but through us and his friends and family he will live on. God bless you, son, heaven has another angel, but this world is a colder and poorer place without you in it. He was gentle, kind, compassionate, clever and an athlete, but beyond all his achievements he was full of love.” Florida United States Crime Gun crime Richard Luscombe guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 21, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.