Maryland teenager killed while vacationing in Puerto Rico

A 17-year-old tourist was killed while traveling in Puerto Rico.

The Maryland resident was in the popular tourist area of Isla Verde when the July 1 incident took place, following an altercation on the beach, according to the Puerto Rico Police Department.

The boy was shot, and his uncle and stepfather were shot and injured as well, according to NBC4 Washington. The teenager reportedly lived in Olney, Maryland, and was a rising senior at James Hubert Blake High School.

“Although he was fairly new to the school community, he had developed strong relationships with many students and staff in such a short period of time,” the school’s principal, Shanay A. Snead, said in a letter obtained by the news outlet. “His smile was contagious.”

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Carlos Aníbal Rosado Martínez, a 23-year-old resident of Toa Baja on Puerto Rico’s northern coast, turned himself in on Wednesday morning, police said.

The crime comes after three other tourists from the U.S. mainland were stabbed in Puerto Rico in February after police said they were told to stop filming in La Perla, a seaside community popular among visitors. One of the tourists was stabbed six times.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Maryland teenager killed in Puerto Rico