Argentine police arrest four members of gang suspected in shooting death of British tourist

Argentine authorities said on Monday they had identified the suspects in the killing of a British tourist who was shot and killed in an armed robbery attempt outside a luxury Buenos Aires hotel over the weekend.

Police, meanwhile, arrested four members of the wider gang suspected of coordinating the crime. Officials said they have identified and are working to arrest the gang members suspected in the shooting on Saturday, which killed one man and injured another in the luxurious tourist district known as Puerto Madero.

The gang suspected in the attack is known for other targeted robberies in Buenos Aires, police said. "It's not the first thing they have done here in the city of Buenos Aires. We already managed to identify the actors and we are working on their arrest," said Gabriel Berard of the Buenos Aires police in a news conference on Monday.

The tourist, who a source with knowledge of the case confirmed as 50-year-old Matthew Gibbard of England, was targeted by the thieves for his high-end watch as he arrived at the capital's Ezeiza international airport on Saturday morning. He was traveling with his stepson, Stefan Zone, 28. Men on motorbikes followed their car until it stopped outside the luxury Faena Hotel and attempted to rob them, police said.

When they resisted, Gibbard and Zone were shot. Gibbard died from his injuries. Zone is recovering in the hospital, the source said. Officials said the vehicles used in the attack were stolen and had been identified by police.

Although fatal robbery attempts against tourists are rare in Buenos Aires, petty crime is common. In the last 12 months, a Swedish tourist was shot in the leg, which doctors had to amputate, in a robbery in the popular tourist neighborhood of San Telmo. Weeks later, a Canadian man was stabbed in a robbery attempt for his cell phone in the same area of the city.