Organised Crime

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Organised Crime Squad

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Newtown is known locally for its gang culture and high crime rate. Last year it accounted for 43 per cent of Sarasota’s armed robberies and 83 per cent of its murders.



As police continue to investigate what the men were doing there, and how they got there, Mr Cooper’s grandfather, Desmond Walton, said his grandson, a high flying tennis coach, would never have considered taking drugs.
He said: “He never did drugs. He did not even smoke - he hated people who smoked.
“He was a professional tennis coach. Taking drugs would be the last thing on his mind.”
His comments were backed up by a former girlfriend of Mr Kouzaris.
Liz Clare, who dated Mr Kouzaris, for three years, said: “I just can't understand why they were there. They're not stupid.
“I was with (James) for three years and he was so cautious. We used to call him Grandad because he was so cautious.
“My biggest fear is what people might think about why they were in a dodgy area. Some people are saying there might be a link to drugs but everyone who knows them both knows it would never be that.”
Detectives have also ruled out any drug link, but continue to be stumped by what exactly happened. They are working on a theory that having spent a night drinking in Sarasota they accepted a lift from someone and believed they were being driven 12 miles to their rented apartment in Longboat Key. Instead they were taken to Newtown and “ambushed” in a violent street robbery. Residents reported hearing between six and eight shots and it is possible there was more than one gunman.
“There is every indication that this was an attempted robbery,” said police spokesman Captain Paul Sutton.
“Their possessions were found on the floor, and that physical evidence shows us that is was most likely a robbery.
“What we still don’t know is why these two men ended up in that area at that time of night and how they managed to get there.”
Shawn Tyson, who lives on the estate with his mother, has been charged with double murder and faces the death penalty if convicted.
Tyson, a school dropout who has the street nickname of “Young Savage” and a tattoo bearing the same words, had been arrested earlier this month after allegedly shooting at a car, but was released from a juvenile detention centre after witnesses failed to show up to give evidence at a court hearing.
Sarasota Police defended releasing Tyson saying they were bound by law to set him free. Capt Sutton added: “He was bailed and the case was being proceeded with. Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Our laws are based on the laws of Great Britain.”
On Tuesday Mr Cooper’s parents, Stan, 58, and Sandra, 52, who were out in Florida with the men, flew home to Hampton Lucy, Warwick.
Neighbours said they would be rallying round the family, which has “shattered” the close knit community.
Police dismissed theories that Mr Cooper and Mr Kouzaris, from Northampton, who had been best friends since meeting at university, were lured to the area by women, or that they were the victim of a rogue taxi driver.
Having been forced to empty their pockets, they were running for their lives when they were shot several times in the back.
It was understood that the weapon allegedly used by Tyson was a TEC-9, a semi-automatic handgun.
Mr Cooper, a tennis coach who once played Andy Murray, and Mr Kouzaris, a town planner and leading amateur rugby player, had arrived in America last week for a three-week holiday. Mr Cooper was 25 three days before he died.
Newtown is known locally for its gang culture and high crime rate. Last year it accounted for 43 per cent of Sarasota’s armed robberies and 83 per cent of its murders.
At the peak of a recent crime wave, violence was so bad many residents stopped wearing jewellery in public for fear of being robbed.

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