The girlfriend of a US tourist shot dead while in Puerto Rico for a Bad Bunny concert is mourning the loss of her fiancé-to-be in a series of heart-wrenching posts — just hours after she shared happy snaps from their night out.
Angy Nicole Arguello, the longtime girlfriend of 25-year-old Kevin Mares, wrote “I love you, my angel” with a broken-heart emoji in an Instagram Story alongside a photo of the young couple after Mares’ untimely death in La Perla on Sunday.
“My love, I love you. I miss you so much. Why, God, did you take him away from me?” she said in a follow-up pic of Mares smiling.
Angy Nicole Arguello, the longtime girlfriend of 25-year-old Kevin Mares, wrote “I love you, my angel” in an Instagram Story of the couple. Instagram/angy.arguello
Mares was planning to propose to Arguello in the fall, according to a GoFundMe created to help cover the expenses to bring his body back home to New York City.
The couple, both from Queens, had been together for six years, the fundraiser said.
Just hours before the tragedy hit, Arguello and Mares each posted carefree snapshots of palm trees, resort pools and clinking glasses with pals during their Puerto Rico vacation.
Mares was shot twice while hanging out at a popular nightspot in La Perla, a shantytown on the outskirts of Old San Juan, officials said.
He is believed to have been an innocent bystander when two people nearby started arguing and one pulled out a gun.
He was shot in the abdomen and side, according to NBC 6 South Florida, and was rushed to a hospital but died.
At least two others, both La Perla locals, were shot and remain hospitalized.
Mares was in Puerto Rico with his girlfriend and a friend to see the popular local rapper perform in a 30-show residency that’s drawn thousands of US tourists to the Caribbean island and US territory.
Loved ones described the 25-year-old as “a deeply loved son, devoted friend, and a source of inspiration to everyone who knew him” in a GoFundMe page created to help cover the expenses to bring his body back home.
“His wholehearted kindness, adventurous spirit, and unwavering commitment to family made him a pillar of strength for his loved ones,” the fundraising page read, adding that Mares was planning to propose to his girlfriend of six years in the fall.
“Family was at the center of everything he did, and his sudden passing has left an unfillable void in our lives,” loved ones wrote on the page.
The shooter remains at large, local police told NBC 6.
“We have very little information,” said San Juan detective Sgt. Arnaldo Ruiz.
La Perla has been dogged by a reputation for crime and violence for decades.
An 18-year-old female tourist in an Uber and a 65-year-old man on the sidewalk were struck as well as a 19-year-old the shooter may have been arguing with at around 1:20 am on Saturday, a spokesperson for the New York Police Department said.
A 17-year-old male suspect was arrested at the scene. Police said the shooting was sparked when a “verbal dispute between two people escalated”.
A police spokesperson told The Independent: “All were taken to Bellevue Hospital and are in stable condition. The perpetrator was engaged in a verbal dispute prior to the shooting with one of the victims. He has been taken into custody and a firearm was also recovered. He has not been charged yet.”
The incident took place on the street at the intersection of West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue. The 19-year-old was shot in the right foot and the 65-year-old was shot in the left leg.
Videos posted on social media showed people fleeing the scene and a car pulled over to the side of the road outside the Hard Rock Cafe.
Footage showed one person on a stretcher being wheeled into an ambulance, with policemen directing people away from the scene.
The gunman was inside the chain restaurant Raising Cane’s on Broadway when the dispute started, the Voxtrendnews Post reported.
The shooter went after the CitiBike rider he was arguing with outside the eatery and fired three shots at about a dozen CitiBike riders, striking the 19-year-old in the foot, The Post reported. The tourist suffered a graze wound to the neck as she rode in the for-hire car with her parents.
“It’s a very horrific experience,” the mom, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Post. “We decided to take our time to come to Times Square. We just felt that we would have a beautiful experience at night to see the whole city.”
She also had her 11-year-old twins in the Uber.
New York’s police commissioner announced only a few days ago that the city had seen the fewest shooting incidents and victims this year since records began. Over the first seven months of 2025, there were 412 shooting incidents and 489 shooting victims in New York.
It is the 10th straight month of decline in major crime in the city, the commissioner said but there have been some shocking incidents this summer.
In July, four people were killed in a chilling and cold-blooded shooting in a Midtown Manhattan high-rise office building that is home to the National Football League.
The suspect, 27-year-old Shane Tamura, died from an “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound”. The police said the gunman walked into the office with a high-powered semiautomatic rifle and sprayed bullets indiscriminately in the lobby and on an upper floor.
Tamura, a former high school footballer, was targeting the headquarters of the NFL, the police said.
An officer, Didarul Islam, was killed in that attack, with the police department describing him as “the very best”.
