Spear and Berry are the latest causalities in a long history of violent crimes in the country. Crime in Venezuela is said to be so bad, residents often stay inside at night. The country had more than 24,000 homicides last year, one of the highest rates in the world.
“Just another victim of horrible violence going on in Venezuela. Worse than Iraq, worse than Mexico,” Fusion network anchor Mariana Atencio told ABC News.
Spear was a U.S. citizen and lived in Florida, but the couple (her husband was British) was in Venezuela on vacation and to visit her sick grandmother. The former Miss Venezuela winner had taken to Twitter two days before to make a plea for people to donate blood to her grandmother.
Around 10:30 Monday night, the family was driving toward Valencia, Venezuela’s third largest city, in a gray Toyota Corolla when they got two flat tires. After their car was reportedly lifted onto a tow truck, they were approached by robbers. The terrified family they locked themselves inside the car. That’s when police say the assailants fired at least six shots, killing Spear and Berry.
“They fired with viciousness,” Maduro said of the attackers.
In sharp contrast to the ugly violence, Spear had tweeted beautiful landscapes of the countryside from the family vacation six hours before her death.