PHOTOS of two Brits in a Florida bar just hours before they were gunned down were released last night.
Cops recovered the images from a camera found near the bodies of James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24.
They hope the pictures will find them witnesses - and explain how the friends came to be in the gang-infested neighbourhood where they died in a hail of bullets.
The university pals - on a three-week holiday - had no reason to be in the tough Newtown area of Sarasota.
Cops want to speak to other customers at several bars in central Saratosa who may have seen them get into a car before they were robbed.
The pals could have been offered a lift to their apartment in exclusive Longboat Key. They did not make the 12-mile trip - but were taken just three miles to the housing project where they were ambushed and shot at 3am on Saturday.
Shawn Tyson, 16, appeared in court yesterday charged with the two murders.
But Police Captain Paul Sutton said: "He did not have access to a car, so it was someone else who took them there."
Wallets and other personal items were found scattered over the street amid trails of blood. It is believed the men, who were not carrying large sums of cash or drugs, were shot as they tried to flee.
The bodies of Cooper, a tennis coach studying management, and Kouzaris, a town planning student, were found 50 feet apart. Locals reported hearing "machine gun fire" and 20 shell cases were found.
The friends, who met at Sheffield University, arrived in Florida a week ago with Cooper's parents Stanley and Sandra. The couple have a 500,000 converted barn in Hampton Lucy, Warwicks.
Kouzaris - shot three days after his 25th birthday - lived with parents Peter and Hazel, both 52, at their 400,000 home in Northampton.
THE teenager arrested for the murders faces the death penalty if he is tried and convicted as an adult.
Shawn Tyson was arrested on April 7 for aggravated assault after allegedly firing a handgun into a car.
The youngster, who lives near the murder scene with his mother and 17-year-old brother, has been excluded from school because of his disruptive behaviour.
MURDER victim James Cooper once played tennis against Andy Murray.
He was 14 when he faced the Scot, now British No1, in a junior tournament.
James Rowe, a coach at Kenilworth Tennis Club, Warwicks, said: "It was his claim to fame. James was a great player and an even better friend."
Cooper, who taught at several clubs, was about to take a top-level coaching qualification. Pal James Kouzaris was a keen traveller.
Childhood friend Eve Mason, who chatted with him on Facebook the day before he left for Florida, said: "He was a real angel on earth. Everyone loved him. He was an absolute ray of sunshine."
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