My friend was shot dead next to me in St Lucia bar – he was the target, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time

A BRITISH photographer who survived a shooting at a bar in St Lucia said he feels lucky to be alive after his friend was killed.

Peter Jackson, 72, believes masked gunmen targeted his pal Donnie McKinnon, 51, in the attack at a popular British expat bar on Saturday afternoon.

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The pair were reportedly on the balcony of Steve’s Bar in Soufrière when the gunmen opened fire in broad daylight.

Mr McKinnon, originally from the Scottish Highlands, died at the scene, while Mr Jackson, originally from Lancashire, was rushed to hospital.

McKinnon was the manager of the 2,000-acre Soufrière estate – one of the Caribbean island’s most popular tourist attractions.

Jackson told The Times: “I was lucky. My friend, not so. My friend was the target, not me. Wrong place, they say.”

The Brit said he was raced to hospital with a gunshot wound.

“The bullet went straight through my shoulder and I’m lucky to get away with a fractured humerus,” he said.

“We are only a small community but our medical services do a great job with limited resources.”

McKinnon moved to St Lucia in 2009 after finishing up his job as the general manager at Marcliffe Hotel and Spa in Aberdeen.

The hotel said it was “devastated” by his death – and said he will be “sorely missed”.

It said: “All of us at the Marcliffe are devastated to hear of the death of Donnie McKinnon in such terrible and violent circumstances.

“We will remember him as the lovely, unassuming and very popular guy we all knew. He will be sorely missed.

“We send our love and condolences to his family and friends at this sad time.”

It comes amid claims McKinnon was gunned down in a “personal vendetta”.

A local source was quoted as saying: “It did not look like a random attack.”

The incident is said to have sent shockwaves through the community of Soufriere, where residents said both men were well known.

“Everyone knew them. They were community people. This is sad,” one person told the St Lucia Times.

Freelance photographer Mr Jackson, the former director of the Soufriere Regional Development Foundation, owns a holiday home on the island.

A spokesman for the Royal St Lucia police said: “We are looking into this shooting.

“We are speaking to people who were been present and may have seen something.

“We will leave no stone unturned as we investigate this fully.”

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has died and a British man who has been injured in St Lucia.”

McKinnon lived near another British expat who was killed in August.

Diana Theodore, 72, was found tied up underneath her bed in a pool of blood with a severe head wound.

The mother-of-one had moved to the Caribbean island more than 30 years ago.

St Lucia, which has a population of less than 200,000, has recorded 67 killings this year. There were a record 74 last year.