Man shot in gang violence was in the 'wrong place'

A CORNISHMAN enjoying being part of his adopted community in Mexico was shot dead outside a supermarket as the country suffered a surge in gang violence, an inquest heard.

- by OLIVIER VERGNAULT

Ben Corser had been travelling in Mexico for several months and was spending time with fellow skateboarders and staying with a Mexican-American family in Colima, the fourth largest city in the central American country, when he was caught in the middle of gang violence.

An inquest into his death held in Truro on Wednesday, June 18 heard how Ben, 36, had been waiting in a car with his two skateboarding friends outside a supermarket where they had stopped to buy food when shooters in a van drove past and opened fire.

Ben, from St Just, received a single gunshot wound to the chest and was declared deceased at the local hospital shortly after. His two friends, Claudio and Alfredo, were also killed that day on May 24, 2022.