Wake being held for Kevin Mares, Queens man fatally shot while visiting Puerto Rico for Bad Bunny concert
A wake is being held on Saturday for a man from Queens who was fatally shot while visiting Puerto Rico for a Bad Bunny concert.
Family, friends and loved ones will gather at the Frederick Funeral Home in Flushing at 4 p.m. for the wake of 25-year-old Kevin Mares .
On Friday, authorities arrested Kalel Jorell Martinez Bristol , 37, in connection to the deadly shooting and charged him with first-degree murder.
The 25-year-old was among the expected 500,000 surge of visitors traveling to Puerto Rico amid Bad Bunny's sold-out 30-concert residency, titled "No me quiero ir de aquí."
Investigators say Mares was with friends in the neighborhood of La Perla, an infamous settlement on the outskirts of Old San Juan's protective sea wall, when a group started arguing.
The heated discussion escalated when Martinez Bristol allegedly shot and wounded two people and fatally struck Mares, who had no relation to the altercation, according to Eric Ortiz Rodriguez, investigating agent of the Homicide Division of San Juan.
Eyewitness News spoke to Mares' parents, who had been working to fly their son's body back home for his funeral.
"They were walking, and then across the street, it was like a bunch of bunch of people, arguing and they start fighting each other. So one of them, they took out a gun. So he starts shooting, like random," said his mother, Sandra Mares.
Mares' parents say their son was an animal lover and vet technician, and had made the trip to Puerto Rico with his long-term girlfriend.
"He was about to propose to her, this fall. Yeah. He wants to do something special. He shared that with us," his mother told Eyewitness News.
Martinez Bristol is currently being held on $800,000 bond. He is due back in court on August 28.
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