SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A 37-year-old man with a criminal record turned himself into police on Friday and was charged in the recent killing of a tourist from the U.S. mainland who had flown to Puerto Rico for Bad Bunny’s residency.
Kalel Jorell Martínez Bristol faces charges including first-degree murder, according to a statement from Puerto Rico’s Justice Department.
Police have said the 25-year-old victim, Kevin Mares of New York, was an innocent bystander when he was struck by a bullet early Sunday while at a nightspot with friends in the seaside community of La Perla.
Authorities accused Martínez of pulling out a gun and firing it while arguing with people near Mares. Two people, a brother and a sister who live in La Perla, were injured.
Defense attorney Pedro Rivera told reporters that he was “very surprised” authorities didn’t file attempted murder charges, saying that casts doubt over the entire case.
Martínez Bristol is being held on an $800,000 bond.
The community of La Perla is located on the outskirts of Old San Juan and once served as Puerto Rico’s biggest distribution point for heroin. It became popular with tourists after Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featured the community in their hit, “Despacito.”
But isolated violence persists.
In February 2023, three tourists were stabbed after police said a person told them to stop filming inside the community.
Then in April 2024, a 24-year-old tourist from Delaware was killed and his body set on fire after police said he and a friend were attacked following a drug purchase. Police said the victims were trying to take pictures of La Perla after being warned not to do so.
FILE - An aerial view of the seaside neighborhood of La Perla, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is seen on Aug. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)
Rain poured down on the iconic Rose Parade on Thursday for the first time in 20 years, as flood warnings and evacuation orders in Southern California joined snow squalls and frigid temperatures in the country's midsection to mark the first day of 2026.
Marching bands, floats and throngs of spectators were soaked by one to two inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) of New Year’s Day rain at the 137th Rose Parade in Pasadena. The mercury stood at a chilly 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14.4 degrees Celsius) at the 8 a.m. start of the parade.
Across the country, in New York City, hats and gloves were as necessary as noisemakers at the city's New Year's Eve ball drop, where temperatures near freezing appeared to be the coldest in 10 years.
Hundreds of thousands of people gather along the nearly six-mile (10-kilometer) route in Pasadena, where the two-hour parade kicked off. Millions more watch on national television. Organizers at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the group that organizes the parade ahead of the Rose Bowl college football game, said they made only small changes to accommodate the weather, such as the tops being up on convertibles carrying grand marshal Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other VIPs.
Rain forecasts for the Rose Parade, which had been dry for 20 years, grew all week. On Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for all California counties and a coastal flood advisory through Sunday afternoon along much of the Pacific Coast near San Francisco.
Meanwhile, residents in the areas hit hardest by last year's devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires were under evacuation warnings.
In New York City, the sun came out ahead of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's inaugural celebration, but other areas of the Northeast and Midwest were hit by an Alberta clipper storm and trailing Arctic front that brought snow squalls and high winds.
Conditions varied widely — from snow showers to heavier squalls — from Wisconsin through northern Illinois and Michigan and into northern New Jersey, southeastern New York and New England.
About a quarter of flights were delayed out of both San Diego International Airport and Boston Logan, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Workers clear rain water off the playing field before the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Rain comes down on attendees at the 137th Rose Parade Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Rain comes down on attendees at the 137th Rose Parade Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
Workers clear rain water off the playing field before the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Rain comes down on a float at the 137th Rose Parade Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
