Single bullet killed former Miss Venezuela

CARACAS

Venezuela's president held emergency security talks Wednesday after a beauty queen turned soap star and her British partner were shot dead, the latest victims of a violent crime epidemic.

The killing of Monica Spear, an actress who lived and worked in the United States, during a vacation to her home country caused shock and revulsion and triggered government crisis meeting.

Spear, 29, and Thomas Henry Berry, 39, were gunned down in front of their five-year-old daughter, who was wounded. Five suspects have been detained.

President Nicolas Maduro, who has vowed to deal with Spear's killers with an "iron hand," held a meeting of mayors and governors to draw up an emergency anti-crime plan after the killings.

"No one can stand by with arms crossed; murders, and violent crime, and the massacre of this young Venezuelan woman and her husband is a blow to all of us," said Maduro.

"We all have to take responsibility; and I take mine," the president said on announcing that a national crime-policy panel would draw up a plan within a month.

SOARING CRIME

The deaths shone a light on the country's soaring crime, which has kept many Venezuelans from venturing out at night and prompted others to buy armored cars or boost security in their homes.

Spear and Berry, who ran an adventure travel company in Venezuela, married in 2008 and later split up but it was unclear whether they legally separated.

They locked themselves inside their broken-down car after five armed men attacked them in a robbery attempt in the state of Carabobo, authorities said.

"She was hit by a single shot in the right arm that went through her body" Spear's manager, Katty Pulido, told CNN Espanol, noting that Berry had suffered three bullet wounds.

The couple's daughter, Maya, was shot in the right leg and taken to a private hospital in Caracas, where she is in stable condition and under the care of her grandparents, Pulido said.

RUNAWAY CRIME

Venezuela has one of the world's highest murder rates, with 79 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, according to the country's non-profit Violence Monitor.

The interior ministry, however, has a lower murder rate of 39 homicides per 100,000.

Maduro hosted a security meeting with state and municipal officials at the Miraflores presidential palace.

The meeting brought the socialist face-to-face with his opposition rival, Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles, who never conceded defeat after Maduro's contested election victory last year.

At a public square, meanwhile, around 200 people held a demonstration organized by artists to denounce the country's spiraling crime problem after it claimed one of their own.

"I no longer go out," said renowned actress Elba Escobar. "When I have evening activities I prefer to go with two or three friends in one car."

As protesters released white balloons, Maria Arteaga, 41, said she stopped visiting her parents because they live in a dangerous neighborhood.

"I'm afraid to go to the bank, restaurants or leave my house," she said.

Another group of artists wrote a letter that they will deliver to the National Assembly, accusing the government of "turning a blind eye" to crime.

LOVE FOR COUNTRY

Friends of Spear said the former beauty queen decided to vacation in Venezuela because she deeply loved her country. Before her death, she had posted images of her countryside holiday on social media.

Spear, a quarter-finalist in the 2005 Miss Universe contest, starred in he Miami-based Telemundo series "Pasion Prohibida" ("Forbidden Passion") and "Flor Salvaje" ("Savage Flower").

The family was driving on a highway when their car hit a blunt object that had been placed on the road, forcing them to pull over, said forensic police director Jose Gregorio Sierralta.

Spear waved down a tow truck, which stopped to help on the road between Puerto Cabello and Valencia in the state of Carabobo, Sierralta said.

But as the two truck workers operated the crane, five armed men emerged on the road.

The truck's operators fled to a police station about 1.5 kilometers (one mile) away while the mother and father locked themselves and their child in their car in a desperate attempt to shield themselves from the killers.

"The criminals fired multiple shots at the vehicle" before fleeing without stealing anything, Sierralta said.