A man was shot dead outside a National Police station in Barcelona on Wednesday morning in what was the second execution-style killing in the city this week.
The Mossos d’Esquadra opened a murder investigation after the victim was gunned down at around 9:50 a.m. on Balmes Street, in the Sarriá-San Gervasio district, just meters from the police station. The area was quickly sealed off by Catalan police and National Police officers as emergency crews arrived at the scene.
According to witnesses cited by La Vanguardia, the gunman approached the victim from behind at close range and shot him in the back of the head. The victim collapsed on the sidewalk outside the station.
“We thought it was a firecracker or a car tire that had blown out,” one witness told the Spanish news outlet. “We turned around and saw a man lying on the ground.”
Security cameras at the police station reportedly captured the attack. La Vanguardia said witnesses heard only one shot, while another witness said the attacker appeared to move toward the victim as if to fire again, but left after realizing he was already dead.
The suspect fled on foot as people in the area ran into nearby shops for cover. Investigators later found a pistol on a bus stop bench beneath a bicycle helmet nearby.
Spanish media have released a still of the suspect.
As OKdiario reported, the murder comes amid growing concern over gun violence in Barcelona and the surrounding area. It was the second fatal shooting in the city in 48 hours, after a Serbian man was shot dead on Mineria Street in the Zona Franca district on June 8.
Another young Spanish national was killed on the same street on May 16 in a shooting with a similar method, although police later determined the two Zona Franca killings were unrelated.
On May 31, a man was wounded in a shootout during an alleged dispute between drug traffickers in Tordera, in the province of Barcelona. Days earlier, a 10-year-old girl was injured by a stray bullet during a shootout between two clans in Badalona.
In April, a 44-year-old Serbian man was shot in the back and head while having lunch with his wife and daughter on a bar terrace in Barcelona’s Poblenou neighborhood. He later died at Hospital del Mar after being admitted in critical condition.
That victim was identified as a member of the Skaljari clan, which has been locked in a long-running war with the rival Kavac organization for more than a decade.
A judicial delegation led by the judge of Barcelona’s Court of Instruction Number 31 attended the scene on Wednesday to oversee the removal of the body, while officers continued searching for the gunman.
