Murder mystery of ex-Yorkshire students gunned down in Florida

Tributes have been paid to James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, who were murdered in the street in a deprived part of the city of Sarasota at about 3am on Saturday.

Local officers said it was “very unusual” to find tourists in the area, about 12 miles away from the upmarket island city of Longboat Key where the former Sheffield University students were staying.

Sarasota police said the Britons were not carrying drugs but would not confirm whether they had any weapons or an unusually large amount of money.

Last night police named a 16-year-old boy arrested in connection with the two murders as Shawn Tyson.

Officers said the teenager had been previously arrested on April 7 for aggravated assault with a handgun and lives in “close proximity” to the murder scenes.

Mr Kouzaris, from Northampton, was on a three-week holiday in Florida with Mr Cooper and his family, from Warwick.

Detectives are investigating how the men came to be in a narrow one-way street in the impoverished Newtown area of northern Sarasota in the middle of the night.

Sarasota police chief Mikel Hollaway said detectives had their suspicions “but at this time it would be unfair to state those”. He said he believed the victims were there of their own volition.

Capt Paul Sutton added that there was no known link between the suspect and the victims.

“It is very unusual to find tourists or visitors in this area. It is a residential neighbourhood with no shops and no bars. We do not know what brought them here at 3am,” he said.

Asked whether there could be more arrests in the case, Capt Sutton said: “We’re looking at the possibility. More than one person ran when the shots were fired.

“Are other people involved or is it people who just happened to be there?”

Mr Kouzaris, a popular and successful amateur rugby player, spent several months travelling in South America before his death.

His parents described him as a “wonderful son” in a brief statement released through Northamptonshire Police.

They went on: “We loved him so much and we can’t believe he has gone. We are absolutely devastated and in a state of complete shock.”

Mr Cooper, who worked as a tennis coach, represented Warwickshire at the sport and once played Andy Murray in a junior tournament.

Friend and former coach James Roe, from Kenilworth Tennis, Squash and Croquet Club, described the circumstances surrounding his death as “bizarre”.

He said: “It is very tragic. None of us are sure of the ins and outs of what went on and how he came to be in that situation.

“We know how he died, but why he died is what we want to know. For somebody to die in that manner, to be murdered, to be shot, it is just bizarre.”

Mr Cooper decided to take a holiday in Florida because he did not have much coaching work over Easter.

He studied at Sheffield University’s management school before becoming a full-time tennis coach for Warwick University-based company inspire2coach.

He had just been promoted to a head coach position and was due to start his new role after returning from holiday.

Mr Kouzaris attended Northampton School for Boys before completing a four-year town planning degree at Sheffield University.

He worked for Northamptonshire County Council as part of a team setting up a programme to provide healthy food for schools.

The local authority’s chief executive Paul Blantern said: “He was a very popular and effective colleague, and will be missed by all who knew him at the council.”