Last week, an American tourist in his 70’s killed an armed mugger as he attempted to rob a group of Americans who were part of a visiting cruise ship docked in the port city of Limon, about 80 miles east of San Jose.
The tourists had hired a driver and van to visit a nearby beach. As they were getting out of the van, they were ambushed by a group of masked, armed men. An unidentified tourist who was also a U.S. military veteran, jumped out of the van and wrestled with the robber, breaking his collarbone and eventually killing him by asphyxiation.
Because the tourist was acting in self defense, he was allowed back on the cruise ship and was not charged by Costa Rican officials.
Having traveled to Costa Rica on several occasions myself, I’m aware of the dangers to tourists. Muggings at knife-point and opportunistic thefts (where a person’s bags are snatched when they aren’t paying attention) are not uncommon. But I’m shocked for several reasons by this story.
Shocked that the muggers in Costa Rica are using such violent methods (a gun, in this instance) for robbing tourists. Shocked that a tourist in his 70’s was able to kill an armed robber with his bare hands. And, shocked that the tourist was just allowed to resume his vacation without any sort of inquiry into the incident.
Stay safe on your next journey. Take a self defense course and research the area where you’re going so that you know what the crime trend looks like. Even if you’re solo, connect with other travelers to minimize your risk when venturing out to remote areas or in the evenings. And, while events like this mugging do happen, remember that they are infrequent and most of the world is indeed safe.
Happy Travels!
Elaine Savage says
I think the mugger got what he deserved, and the tourist should not have faced any penalty. My partner got mugged in barcelona and he had an injury which persisted for more than a year. if I’d have had the means of attacking the mugger at the time I would have, and if he had been killed, serve him right. These people are just scum and add nothing to society. The police do hardly anything to them and let them go, so I reckon it is open season on them. If anyone tried to mug me I would use the most extreme force that I could against them and have no conscience about what happened to them. Remember, it is them that instigated it.
WHat? says
What happened to the rest of the armed muggers?