But shortly before 3am, [the victims] ended up in a crime-ridden neighbourhood more than a mile from the bars. Witnesses said they saw Cooper and Kouzaris walking shirtless and stumbling through the neighbourhood.
They also reported that they were being followed by two black men, one with a red bandanna around part of his face.
Prosecutor Ed Brodsky said Tyson told a friend that the men were lost and that he then tried to rob them. The tourists told Tyson they did not have any money and pleaded for their lives.
Brodsky said Tyson told his friend: ‘Since you ain’t got no money, then I have something for your a**.’
The tourists’ bodies were found shirtless on the street. Both men still had their wallets and did have money. Cooper also had a mobile telephone and camera in his trouser pocket.
… The court heard that autopsies showed Cooper was shot four times—three of the bullets went straight through his body, the fatal one into his chest, perforating his left lung and ending up in his heart.
Kouzaris had been shot twice in the back and was killed by a bullet which perforated his spleen, diaphragm, left lung and his heart. The bullets were from a 0.22 calibre weapon.
… [One] witness, who was staying with his girlfriend, would describe hearing noise outside at about 2.45am. He said: ‘He saw two white males walking eastbound down Carver or Gore Court.
‘He would describe the two men as being shirtless, he would describe the men as appearing to be drunk because they stumbled and he would describe that as the two men walked down the street that he saw two black males crouching and watching them as they walked by.’