A Brit estate agent has been shot dead in a case of mistaken identity by a man thinking she was his former landlady who evicted him, a friend has claimed.
Sara Trost, 40, from Southend, Essex, was shot multiple times by Raymond Reese as she sat in a parked car ahead of a property viewing near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the US, last Thursday.
She was attacked by mistake as she looked similar to Reese’s former landlord, said her friend Rabbi Shuey Biston.
He said: “Apparently the owner of the house, who was evicting the tenant, also had a white Jeep and was a blonde-haired lady, like Sara, and the guy mistook her. It’s devastating.”
Ms Trost was in her car waiting to show a client around the house when she was attacked by the 51-year-old former tenant, it is reported.
Paramedics rushed to the incident shortly after midday last Thursday but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
“When officers arrived, they discovered a vehicle with one female occupant in the driver's seat suffering from multiple gunshot wounds,” the Coral Springs police department stated.
“Despite immediate medical treatment, the driver succumbed to her injuries on scene and was pronounced dead.”
Reese has reportedly been charged with first degree murder and could face the death penalty if guilty and it is sought by the prosecution.
Ms Trost was a married mother of a three-year-old daughter, who lived north of Miami and had a property business she had built up over the past eight years.
She had been an active opponent of gun violence in the US on social media following the high school shooting in Parkland where 17 people were killed in 2018.
"Australia had one incident. One, They fixed it. UK had one incident. They fixed it. How? With action. Using their brains. It was not difficult for either country to find a workable and successful solution," Trost shared on Facebook.
"Here in the US we seem to start and stop at 'thoughts and prayers.' Doesn't seem to be working right."
