A 24-year-old tourist from Delaware was killed in Puerto Rico over the weekend after allegedly buying drugs in a coastal shantytown, authorities said.
Tariq Loat and a friend, James Jackson, were attacked in La Perla on Saturday following the alleged drug deal when they tried to take photographs, despite being told not to, according to Police Commissioner Antonio López Figueroa.
The duo were beaten with an exercise weight, a piece of wood and a deep fryer, authorities said.
Jackson managed to flee and was later hospitalized, authorities said.
But Loat’s badly burned body was found by authorities on Sunday in the town of Vega Baja.
No arrests have been made and police have not identified the suspects.
The last tourist death in Puerto Rico occurred in February 2020 when a 39-year-old man from Denver was thrown from an SUV and run over in San Juan, police have said.
With Post wires
