A U.S. businessman was shot and killed Tuesday by unknown gunmen in Colombia’s northern department of Magdalena, newspaper El Heraldo reported.
The shooting occurred in the main industrial sector of Santa Marta at 11AM while the victim, 59-year old James Perry Edwards, was in the process of negotiating a lot in the area.
According to witnesses, Edwards had received a cellphone call warning him to stay away from the people he was doing business with.
Shortly after the call, two men on a motorcycle drove up to where he was. One of the men wearing faded jeans, a blue shirt and no helmet, pulled out a gun and shot the victim three times.
Edwards was hit in the chest, forearm and right hip and was taken to the El Prado Rodadero clinic where he was pronounced dead a few minutes after arrival.
During the attack, a bullet ricocheted off the ground and hit a 22-year old man in the foot, who is recovering in the clinic.
The American businessman was a professional scuba diver as well as the manager and owner of the James Lee company.
The case is being handled by a special police investigation team as the murder of a foreigner on Colombian soil is considered extremely serious.