A British artist shot dead in Mexico while on a trip to a supermarket was in the “wrong place at the wrong time”, his family has said.
Ben Corser, a software engineer, was picking up groceries in a shop in Colima on 24 May when he was gunned down.
Mr Corser, 37, from Cornwall, was sitting in a car on Camino Real Boulevard when he and two friends, Claudio and Alfredo, were murdered.
His parents, former head teacher Andrew Corser and Lorraine Downes, and his brother Tom Corser, have arranged for his body to be returned to the UK for a funeral in St Just.
In a statement, the family said: “Ben has been in Mexico since January 2022, where he had been having a very happy and sociable time, living in different parts of Mexico, becoming part of the community, and also moving around a bit.
“Most recently, Ben was living with a Mexican-American family near Colima city; two of the young men in the household (Claudio and Alfredo) were skateboarders and Ben joined them skating.
“On Tuesday evening, 24 May 2022, Ben and Claudio come back on the bus from Guadalajara and Alfredo picked them up in the car.
“They went along the main boulevard in Colima and stopped at a supermarket to get some food for Mamma.
“While they were in the car, outside the supermarket, all three young men, including Ben sitting in the back seat, were shot dead.
“We have had no explanation, no reasons given, no suggestion of robbery, kidnapping or anything else.
“No doubt the police will eventually conclude their investigation and tell us what they think happened – there had been a dramatic upsurge in Colima in the last few weeks, although this was not directed at all at tourists.
“It is most likely that this was a question of Ben (and Claudio and Alfredo) being tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Thank you for all your lovely expressions of regret and support, and all of the offers of help – St Just, Ben’s large network of friends, have given the family vital comfort in this appalling time of grief. Thank you.”
The family say Mr Corser had first-class degrees in both fine art and mathematics and was a poet and an artist.
They said: “Ben’s family are completely devastated – his heart-rending death came as such a shock to all of us, and to each of his multitude of friends around the country and beyond.
“Ben had a breadth that is rare today: he held first class degrees in both fine art and mathematics, he was an artist, a poet, a computer user, maker, coder and programmer, a skateboarder, a sea swimmer, a wild camper, a festival goer, an actor, a yoga lover, a photographer, a music maker, a dancer.
”He was a lover of people from the youngest to the oldest, man, woman and child; of animals (especially dogs and cats); of nature, from the cultivated through to the wildest; but also of the urban environment, of graffiti and of skyscrapers; and of all art – from the earliest, the most representational, to the most abstract, the newest and the most conceptual.
”Ben was just so much fun to be with because he lived in the moment, with everybody (and every dog or cat) he met and who met him, and he was so generous, sharing his joy in life, and everything else he had, with all of us.
“He seemed to take risks – but that only revealed our own fear– he showed us how he was always within his capabilities.
”Ben, although born in London, lived in Cornwall from his first birthday, going to school in Sennen and Cape Cornwall in St Just, as well as St Julian’s in Portugal, then doing his A-levels at Truro College, going on to Bristol UWE, and latterly Birkbeck College, London.
”Ben was one of the founders of an eclectic group of artists called the Bristol Diving School; it is hoped that exhibitions of his work will be arranged in Bristol and Cornwall, and probably online as well.
”We hope to conduct Ben’s funeral and burial on Midsummer Day, 24th June, in St Just, with a wake on the evening of the following day.”
People took to social media to pay tribute. One said: “Sincere condolences to you all. I haven’t seen Ben since school, but it goes without saying that he was bursting with charisma. What an absolute tragedy. Love and strength to you all x.”
Another said: "I’m so sorry Tom, sending much love to you and your mum and dad. I have fond memories of Ben, he was so much fun and just a really nice lad.”
Another wrote: “So sorry to hear this Tom..thoughts with you and the family pal.”
There has been a reported wave of violence in Colima, the capital city of the Mexican state of the same name.
Mr Corser is the second person from Cornwall to be shot and killed in Mexico this year.
Chris Cleave, 54, was driving through Playa del Carmen in Cancun, on the opposite side of the country, when he was killed in March.
