Toronto man murdered in home invasion during Costa Rica vacation

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A Canadian man on vacation in Costa Rica was shot to death after hearing his girlfriend scream.

Cops in the Central American nation say the 40-year-old victim — identified only as Deir — was believed to be from the Agincourt area of Toronto.

According to cops, the man was shot to death during a violent home invasion robbery at a vacation rental home in the Los Jobos area of Tamarindo, Guanacaste, a popular beach town, on the evening of July 11. The couple regularly reside in Mexico, reports said.

The suspected killer entered the vacation property with the intention of robbing the pair. But his girlfriend’s screams alerted her boyfriend, who stepped into the hallway to see what the noise was.

The intruder then fired multiple shots, hitting Deir three times in the upper torso. Before fleeing the scene, the gunman reportedly grabbed cash and a cell phone and then slipped into the night.

Investigators said that Deir was dead at the scene. So far, there have been no arrests.

The slaying in no way marks the first murder of a Canadian in Costa Rica. In 2011, Kimberley Blackwell, was murdered near Puerto Jimenez.

She was found beaten and shot at her home, with police investigating the incident as a homicide. Blackwell had lived in Costa Rica for nearly 20 years and ran an organic chocolate business. She had previously confronted poachers who trespassed on her property, and investigators were looking into whether these confrontations were related to the murder.

Another Canadian, Bruce McCallum, was fatally stabbed in Costa Rica in 2017, according to news reports. McCallum, a Toronto teacher, was killed in Puerto Viejo while taking photos.

Meanwhile, a Canadian woman who worked at a legal marijuana growing facility in Oklahoma has been shot to death during what cops called a targeted robbery in Pottawatomie County.

“The story was we have two masked men who broke in through the front door, separated and separated for reasons we don’t know at this time, there were shots fired, we have one victim, then they duct taped the other two and started rummaging through the house,” said Capt. JT Palmer of the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office.

The victim has been identified as a Canadian citizen, Vongphachanh Philavanh.

The investigation is ongoing.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HUnterTOSun