Overview

• Kevin Mares, a 25-year-old New Yorker, was struck in the predawn hours at the “Shelter for Mistreated Men” nightspot in La Perla and later died at Puerto Rico’s largest public hospital.
• Police say Mares was an innocent bystander when an argument nearby escalated to gunfire, wounding him and two local residents who remain hospitalized.
• Investigators have released few details, lack a suspect description and continue interviewing witnesses in the ongoing search for the gunman.
• Mares’s family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover expenses for repatriating his body from San Juan to New York.
• The shooting has reignited safety concerns in La Perla, a seaside community long marked by drug trafficking and occasional violence against visitors.