Authorities in Costa Rica are crediting a retired member of the U.S. military with the bare-handed death of a mugger who tried to hold up a tour bus of senior citizens.

According to an Associated Press report, the police chief in the city of Limon said the 12 senior citizens on a tour bus were accosted by a suspect identified as Warner Segura, 20, and two others.

The three alleged muggers were armed with a knife and a .38 caliber revolver and tried to hold up the occupants of the tour bus, Limon Police Chief Luis Hernandez said. But one of the members of the tour, an unidentified retired U.S. military member, put Segura in a head lock, and the other two suspects fled.

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Segura suffered a broken clavicle in the head lock, and when his two companions fled, the tourists took him to the Red Cross for medical treatment, but he was pronounced dead, authorities reported.

Hernadez reported that no charges were being considered against any of the tourists, who left on schedule on their Carnival cruise.

"They were in their right to defend themselves after being held up," the police chief said. He noted that Segura previously had been charged for assault.

The cruise line issued a statement that the passengers had arranged the outing on their own.

"According to witnesses, while sightseeing at a local beach, a group of guests were approached by three assailants, one of whom was armed," the line based in Miami said. "The victims struggled with the armed perpetrator, and were able to disarm him. During this process, the gunman's two accomplices fled the scene.

"In the course of disarming and restraining the assailant, he died from apparent asphyxiation," the company told the Associated Press.

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