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Tourist killed in Florida despite taking precautions.
MIAMI, Sept. 8 Uwe Wilhelm Rakebrand did everything that the authorities had told tourists to do for their own safety since the murder of a German woman visiting here last spring but in the end, these precautions did not save his life.
In the latest attack on a tourist here, M. Rakebrand was shot and killed early today while driving a rental car on the main highway of the city, a few minutes after his arrival in Germany with his wife pregnant for a vacation.
Police said later today that they had arrested a man aged 19 and charged with murder and attempted robbery.
M. Rakebrand, an agricultural engineer aged 33 from a small town near Hamburg, was en route to Miami International Airport Hotel in Miami Beach when two men in a light-colored pickup truck began ramming his car behind Police said his wife had just read a packet of safety tips for tourists when the shelling started, and she told her husband not to stop.
When he continued to drive on, the van pulled alongside and one of the men inside fired once, hitting him in the back and causing him to lose control of the red Toyota he had leased to Alamo Rent A Car not Supposed to get shot.
The shooting occurred about 12 million 30 Close to the junction of Highway Dolphin main east-west artery of the city, and Interstate 95, just north of downtown Miami, about three miles airport.
M. Rakebrand pregnant woman aged 27, who was not injured in the attack, has been called into question, but asked the police not to disclose his name Police asked several other witnesses manifest.
By not stopping or pulling, M. Rakebrand complied with the recommendations made by the authorities last spring after Barbara Meller Jensen, another German tourist, lost his way and was run over in the street and killed by a pair of thieves.
They pointed straight ahead, not lost, keep their own business, doing what is recommended you do so when you hit the Green Sergeant said they're not supposed to get shot.
He said Rakebrand had probably followed the car rental office near the airport robbery Many teams smash and grab specialize in attacks against tourists here.
Later today, the police arrested Ricondall Wiggins, who said drove a rented van thought to have been used in the crime The truck was found with a high-powered rifle, officials said Sgt Gerald Green officials said that a tip led to the break in the case and that other suspects were being sought, including a woman.
Police said M. Rakebrand has not demonstrated a behavior that usually attracts the attention of tourists criminals he was driving at a normal speed, not slowly, as if bewildered, and valuables were placed out of sight as the police had not her car emblems or special license plates identifying it as a rental vehicle.
Since October, eight foreign tourists, including four Germans were killed in South Florida in flights or attempted theft in other parts of the state there has been a rash of incidents involving break-ins at hotels frequented by tourists, and a black visitor from New York has been removed and set on fire in a racist incident in January.
After the death of Ms Jensen in April, the state has spent $ 581,000 to set up a special working group on street crime, which has already made more than 215 arrests, mostly in charge of the Miami area tourism State and local have also improved the lighting on roads and posted new road signs to help visitors to avoid dangerous areas.
The state government has ordered that all logos removed car rental company, and has removed the special license tags for these vehicles Car rental agencies now offer customers detailed safety brochures in English, Spanish, German and other languages, and they play recordings with similar messages about the sound systems in their rental offices all Germans five minutes were warned of the dangers.
Tourism is the largest industry in Florida, with more than 31 billion revenue last year more than 42 million people visited the state in 1992, and foreigners have been the fastest growing segment Despite the negative publicity from the recent series of robberies and murders tourists, the number of foreign visitors increased by 21 percent in the first quarter of 1993, state officials said.
The murder of Mrs Jensen has prompted the German government to issue a travel advice for tourists wishing to visit Florida Klaus Sommer, the German consul general here, said this afternoon he would not recommend to his superiors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Board be expanded.
If someone asks me home, I will tell them this is a beautiful area for holidays, he said at a news conference this afternoon but it is an area that also contains risks So come and take normal precautions.
450,000 Germans visited Florida last year Although exact figures for 1993 are not yet available, the owners of hotels here and travel agents in Germany said they had detected no noticeable drop in visitors German to the state.
Gov. Lawton Chiles, sitting next to M. Sommer at the news conference, said the state had made significant progress since the murder of Mrs Jensen, but added, obviously more to do.
Merrett R Stierheim, head of the Convention and Visitors Bureau Greater Miami, announced a reward of 25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the killers of M. Rakebrand.
Reaction in Germany, although muted at the official level, was strong and immediate death M. Rakebrand was one of the stories leading evening news programs and newspapers have said they intended first page of items for Thursday's editions.
I think it is very sad that this happened again in Florida, Lewitz Wolf, director of the JetSet Travel Agency in Berlin, said in a telephone interview What will happen now in the tourism business in Florida all depends if the press plays this up for several days so that interested tourists scared.
Both M. Lewitz and Frank Zahn, director of the company Flamingo, another Berlin travel agency that specializes in travel to Florida, said they would not advise their clients to stay away from the State .
There is almost no country in the world where a tourist is absolutely safe, said Zahn.
Photos Uwe Wilhelm Rakebrand was killed shortly after arriving in Miami for vacation; Pamphlets warning against the security measures to be taken during a trip in the Miami area were found in the car suffered Associated Press Miami Map showing the location of where the shooting and Jensen Rakebrand occurred .
Tourist killed in Florida Despite taking precautions, tourist killed, Florida.