DeltaSierra70

What a great question! If only he would take at least one acting lesson. It looks as if he's reading the script off the floor.

Ash UK/US

That is not what the sentance said

osgood

...........Detectives found their bodies 50 feet apart in the early hours of Saturday morning after residents reported "machine-gun fire". One of the bodies is said to have been surrounded with 20 shell casings.

anotherlimey

Yeah sorry to burst your bubble. There are also no Hummers involved - the Miami CSI vehicle is a rusty old white van.

Ozzidoc

Poor Dean, having to deal with this.

anotherlimey

I doubt it's two guys who just happened to wander into that area at 3am. I read somewhere they didn't have a car.

However this wouldn't be the first time tourists were shot in a crap area of Florida, in fact it's happened in nice areas of Florida too.

Giantaxe

Lured there for drugs and/or sex is my guess.... at least, that's the way these things often play out.

anotherlimey

My first thought was drugs. The Telegraph has a different take: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...e-believe.html

It's not what Florida needs right now.

Giantaxe

"The teenager was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon but released by a court while police carried out further inquiries."

That was a bright move.

kimilseung

My understanding is that one of them was living there, 12 miles from where they were shot, on Longboat key, that he was working as a tennis coach and the other victim was visiting. Not sure if this job was a short term or long term one, I suppose if he was just doing it for a few months between studies, he would still be like a tourist.

Englishmum

There is a report and photos of these handsome young men in today's "Daily Mail" - it seems that they may have been offered a lift home and had been set up in a pre-arranged ambush:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...nned-down.html

There is an interesting comment at the end of the report by a former British Vice-Consul who was based in Florida. TBH I had no idea that parts of Sarasota were so dangerous...many of the affluent people in the town where I live go there on their holidays, I always had the impression that Sarasota was posh/upscale.

How tragic that these young men with a life ahead of them have been gunned down in this way.

robin1234

Apparently the authorities in Florida are taking seriously the perception that Florida is a dangerous vacation destination for foreign visitors, hopefully they'll do something about it.

Oh - just saw the date on the article..

Hiro11

My reactions to this:

1. I had no idea that there were dangerous areas in Sarasota. I've been there several times and it struck me as a fairly upscale town. I'll admit I stuck close to the beach: Siesta and Longboat keys are both fairly spectacular.

2. 12 miles from the beach is not exactly right around the corner. It's more like a solid half hour drive. The obvious question is: what the hell were these guys doing there? How did they get so far off the beaten path? Secondly, there's some spectacularly bad luck involved here: horrific double murders are hardly an everyday occurance in even the most dangerous part of this country. These guys were in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.

3. I think the Telegraph opinion article posted today (not the one above)is a bit ridiculous. The writer certainly has a point that America is very divided: people in the South Side of Chicago (or Newtown, FL, apparently) live in a very different country than people just a few miles away. I do think he's more than a little simplistic in explaining the divisions as a result of racism (although racism does of course play a part). He's also way off base describing Sarasota as "the South". Lastly, there's a bit of a double standard at work as surely every city in the world (except Tokyo, perhaps) has areas where it's probably a bad idea to wander around at 3AM. This is certainly true in the UK.

osgood

Well, what are we doing, blaming two tourists for not knowing the location of the "bad section" of Sarasota? Maybe the Frommer's guide should include maps of these labeled "areas to avoid while attempting to vacation in the Sunshine State."

Hiro11

If you're repsonding to me: I'm not blaming them, I'm just saying that they were so far off the beaten tourist path that they had to make a concerted effort to get there, unless they had been kidnapped. As I said, I've been to Sarasota many, many times and never been anywhere near where they were. I would have no reason to go there.

Also, yes it's probably a good idea to at least have a sense for areas you want to avoid if you're going to wander around at 3 AM no matter where you are in the world. It's common sense.