New | Former Miss Venezuela shot dead in front of daughter in highway attack
Former Miss Universe contender and British husband gunned down in crime that shines spotlight on the epidemic of violent crime in the nation
Gunmen shot dead a former Miss Venezuela and her British-born ex-husband in front of their five-year-old daughter, who was wounded in an attack that dismayed the crime-plagued nation, authorities said on Tuesday.
Monica Spear, a 29-year-old soap opera star, and Thomas Henry Berry, 39, were killed in what appears to have been a botched robbery after their car broke down on a highway in northwestern Venezuela late on Monday, police and prosecutors said.
This is a massacre. This violence is a sickness that we have
Their daughter, Maya Berry Spear, was wounded in the right leg but was stable after receiving medical treatment in a crime that put a harsh spotlight on Venezuela’s soaring murder rate.
Police in Puerto Cabello arrested five suspects, some under the age of 18, said forensic police director Jose Gregorio Sierralta.
The suspects have also been interrogated, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said after a televised meeting with President Nicolas Maduro, who vowed to use an “iron hand” to crack down on crime.
The family was on a scenic highway when their car hit a blunt object that had been placed on the road, forcing them to pull over, said Sierralta. There are suggestions the object was strategically placed as part of a planned armed robbery.