After the murder of the tourist Tariq Quadir Loat, who had disappeared in La Perla (Old San Juan) last Saturday, a new version of the story is narrated by the mother of James Jackson, the other young man who was with Tariq and who survived the incident. One man has been potentially identified as a suspect.
In an interview with the press, Charlene Jackson, assured that her 20-year-old son told her that they were not in La Perla buying drugs, as has been presumed by the authorities.
James Jackson, the tourist who managed to escape the scene, reportedly told his mother that they were simply “touring” the area.
“They’re making it sound like a drug deal gone bad. That they went there for drugs and got what they deserved, but that’s not the case,” Jackson’s mother said.
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The woman said her son assured her that no photos were taken and that no one got out of the vehicle or disrespected residents.
“Seven men surrounded the car, but it was a very narrow street and they could not turn,” the woman told the newscast. According to her, the youths accelerated, crashed into a vehicle and were trapped.
In his version, the group of attackers broke the glass of the car, beat Tariq and took both men out of the car, immediately afterwards, they started beating them.
According to her, when trying to escape the tourists went by different paths and Tariq had “the bad luck” to find a dead end street.
The media obtained a reaction from the police to this story, who assured that it was Jackson himself who told the details about the drug deal to the authorities at the scene.
The body of 24-year-old Quadir Loat was found burned at around 11:45 a.m. on Sunday in Vega Baja. In addition to the burns, the body had two bullet wounds.
