52-year-old Osman Darcan drove up from Miami to Orlando with his 44-year-old wife on Wednesday to stay at the Wyndham Orlando International Drive, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
At about 1:40 a.m., the couple got out of their car and the robber approached them. After the struggle and the shooting, the man ran without the purse.
Darcan was a professor at Istanbul’s Bogazici University.
“We’re certainly getting people’s attention in the wrong way,” Michael “Doc” Terry, a professor at the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, told the Sentinel. “It tarnishes the brand, no doubt.”
Orange County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Angelo Nieves responded to possible concerns at a news conference by calling the incident a “crime of opportunity” and reminding people, “This is a very safe area.”
This is another possible blow to the local tourism industry after a summer that has included Zika fears, the murder of singer Christina Grimmie and the Pulse shooting, which left 49 dead in one of the city’s busiest gay clubs.
This article appears in Sep 7-13, 2016.