The American woman killed in the crossfire of a drug gang shootout at a beach club in the Mexican resort city of Tulum earlier this month was spending time over the border to get away from rising crime in California, her husband said.
Niko Honarbakhsh, a 44-year-old Los Angeles native, was shot and killed on Feb. 9 at the Mia Beach Club by a stray bullet as suspected drug dealers opened fire on each other.
One of the criminals, a known drug dealer named Shawn Billary, 22, who was from Belize, died on the scene. Prosecutors said he was found to have bags with cocaine powder and pills on him.
According to local news outlets, two people have been arrested in relation to the incident, including a taxi driver suspected of driving three people involved in the shooting to the resort.
The local state attorney general’s office clarified that the woman had no connection to the shooters, as had been falsely reported by local news.
Ms. Honarbaksh and her husband, Karl Perman, a former DEA agent who now works in the private energy sector, had been splitting their time between their home in Beverly Hills and their condominium in Cancun for five years.
Rising crime and homelessness in California made Ms. Honarbakhsh feel unsafe in her hometown, especially since her husband is regularly away on business trips, Mr. Perman said.
Ms. Honarbakhsh had garnered 120,000 followers on Instagram, where she posted photos from luxurious settings, including beach clubs and restaurants.
Travel Warning
Last year, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Americans to “exercise increased caution due to crime” in the State of Quintana Roo, where both Cancun and Tulum are located.
“Criminal activity and violence may occur in any location, at any time, including in popular tourist destinations,” the travel warning read. “While not directed at tourists, shootings between rival gangs have injured innocent bystanders.”
“We were aware of the State Department advisory,” Mr. Perman told Fox News Digital. “We were aware of, you know, reportings of crime in this area. But honestly, our opinion was—take a look at Los Angeles.”
He explained that he often felt safer in Cancun than in Los Angeles, “depending upon the neighborhood.”
He recounted how his wife had been chased by a man with a knife while she was walking their dogs at the University of California. She called him while he was out of town for work, and he urged her to take cover in the university library to await emergency responders.
“Niko was very positive, she loved life. This should not… not fair,” Mr. Perman said through tears.
Shocked by Apathy
Two days after the Tulum incident, Mr. Perlman had to convince the local DA’s office that the reports that his wife was not an American and had been a drug dealer herself were false and that the woman accompanying Mr. Billary in a photo published in the newspapers, was not his wife.
He said he had to show them his wife’s passport, birth certificate, and marriage certificate before they eventually agreed and apologized for the mistake.
“It seems like every time there’s an American that’s killed here, the spin is they were doing something wrong. Right? Buying drugs, selling drugs, being near drugs,” he said.
He thanked the U.S. government—specifically the DEA and the State Department—for helping to arrange the necessary meeting with Mexican prosecutors.
Overall, Mr. Perman was a bit shocked at the apathy with which the incident was treated.
“The crime in Cancun is a little shocking,” private investigator Jay Armes II told Fox News. “But to people in Mexico, it’s a Tuesday. It’s something that happens all the time.”
“This is something that’s happening throughout Mexico right now, and it’s all because of the drug trafficking,” he said. “The drug traffickers are fighting each other over territory.”