Three US tourists have been stabbed in Puerto Rico after they were told to stop filming in the La Perla neighbourhood made famous by Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” music video.
The incident began unfolding after 4am Monday in the popular community where one of the tourists, identified by authorities as Carlos Sanchez Brown, 39, from South Carolina, began filming a hamburger cart.
Some locals then told him to stop filming and to leave the area, New York Post reports.
Mr Brown was accompanied by Wallace Florence, 37, also from South Carolina, and Jackson Tremayne, 38, from Georgia, municipal commissioner José Juan García told station WAPA-TV.
It is alleged the visitors did not heed the warning and continued to film.
A man, described as having fair skin with long white hair, allegedly assaulted Mr Florence with a blow to the head, reported Telemundo Puerto Rico.
The trio tried to leave the area, but they soon realised that they were being followed, police said.
A person armed with a knife then stabbed Mr Brown in the left forearm before stabbing Mr Tremayne six times, including in the chest, abdomen, arm and back.
Mr Tremayne and Mr Brown were rushed to an area hospital. Mr Florence refused medical attention.
There was no immediate word on the victims’ conditions.
So far, no one has been arrested in connection to the bloody attack.
The incident happened nearly two years after US man Tariq Quadir Loat was killed and set on fire after police said he was warned not to take pictures while buying drugs in La Perla.
La Perla became world-renowned after it was featured in the video of Despacito, a chart-topping hit song released in 2017 by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee.
The community was once a dangerous slum, considered the island’s biggest distribution point for heroin, but crime has dropped since a 2011 raid by federal agents.
– with Post wires
This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Story Credit: news.com.au