ORLANDO, Fla. – Days after the Orange County Sheriff's Office said that it is increasing patrols on International Drive, a man reported being robbed at knife-point outside a hotel in the center of the tourist district.
Deputies said they went to the Coco Key Hotel and Water Resort around 2:30 a.m. Sunday after a 21-year-old man said two people got away with his bag after pulling out a knife. The victim is not believed to have been injured.
The robbery happened about a half-mile from the Wyndham Orlando Resort, where a Turkish tourist was killed during an armed robbery Thursday morning. Osman Darcan, 52, worked as a professor and was on his honeymoon at the time.
Deputies also said later in the evening on the same day Darcan was killed, about five vehicles were broken into in the parking lot of nearby Senor Frogs.
News 6 obtained new crime statistics from the Orange County Sheriff's Crime Analysis Unit that shows overall crime in the I-Drive corridor is up 83 percent from this same time last year. It shows significant increases in auto and commercial burglaries, as well as aggravated battery. It also show some significant decreases in crime, especially for armed robberies against people, which is down 82 percent from this time last year.
Gary and Dawn Clark are visiting from the United Kingdom. The couple said that it's important for tourists visiting any city to remain vigilant.
"We've been a couple of times, and it doesn't feel any different now to what it did before," Garry Clark said. "Just going to be extra vigilant. Just keep an eye out. Don't go in dirty-looking areas basically. Make sure there are plenty of people walking about."
The couple said they've never had a bad experience during their previous trips to Orlando and said people always have to watch out for opportunist criminals.
"If somebody's setting out to do that kind of a thing at that time time in the morning, you are sometimes going to be the unlucky person, aren't you? You can't always make that judgment call and avoid that," Dawn Clark said.
Orange County deputies also responded to the iconic I-Drive McDonald's on Saturday after a caller claimed there was a grenade set to go off inside. The restaurant was briefly evacuated until given the all-clear.