Florida Seeking Federal Help to Quell Attacks on Foreigners

Gov. Lawton Chiles sought federal help Monday to curtail an upsurge in attacks on foreign tourists, in the wake of the attack late last week on a German woman who was robbed and slain as her mother and two children watched.

Local officials unveiled new street signs with international symbols to direct tourists to beaches and the airport, as well as a plan to create visitor-direction centers at fast-food outlets and other popular attractions by July 1.

The slaying of the German woman, whose head was crushed by her fleeing attackers’ car, drew an unusually strong response from the German government. Three of the seven foreign visitors killed in Florida since November were Germans.

Plans by Chiles and tourism officials to find ways to keep foreign visitors safe pleased German Consul General Klaus Sommer, who said that, for now, he would not call on Germans to curtail travel to Florida.

Sommer said 1,200 Germans a year come to him after being victimized by crime in Florida.

The German government said Monday that it was “deeply shocked” by the killing of Barbara Jensen Meller, and it plans to work out recommendations for German tourists.

News of her slaying was carried prominently by German newspapers. Bild, a popular daily, proclaimed in a front-page headline: “Florida: Hunting German Tourists.”

Meller became lost after leaving the airport in a rented car, which was struck from behind by another vehicle. When she got out to inspect the damage, she was attacked.

Chiles, speaking to his Task Force on Visitor Safety, said he would ask U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, a former prosecutor in Miami, whether such crimes fall under the new federal carjacking statute.

Chiles did not know what aid, if any, the state could expect if Reno said the crimes fall under federal jurisprudence.

Shortly after the governor spoke, three Danish women were victimized in a smash-and-grab robbery nearby. Police said they arrested a 24-year-old man who threw a spark plug through the window of a rental car the women were driving. No one was injured.