The Mossos d’Esquadra are investigating the shooting death of a man in the center of Barcelona. This is the second fatal victim by firearm in less than a week in the city. The Mossos are investigating the event, which also coincides with the Pope’s visit to Catalonia. The Mossos have distanced the incident from the Pontiff’s visit, and police sources state that it has not caused any change or tension in the security detail assisting Leo XIV.
The attack took place around 10 in the morning, on Balmes street in the city. A man shot another and fled. The assault occurred near Diagonal Avenue, right in front of a National Police office, where national ID cards are issued and other immigration procedures are carried out. The local cameras recorded the killer, who was wearing shorts and carrying a bicycle helmet in his hand.
Shortly after, the agents found the weapon: it was at a bus stop in Gal·la Placídia square, in the Gràcia neighborhood, and has been placed under the custody of the Mossos. The helmet was under the seat, covering the gun. They also found a mobile phone that the killer was allegedly carrying.
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The Mossos do not yet know the identity of the deceased person, who was undocumented, according to police sources. But their phenotype, those same sources add, is Caucasian and they suspect, based on the data they have, that they are likely Serbian. They also do not yet have any leads on where the killer might be hiding, who fled through the city, heading north. The main hypothesis is that it is a settling of scores, linked to organized crime.
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The crime was committed on one of Barcelona’s busiest streets, Balmes, which is an artery that crosses Barcelona from north to south. At ten in the morning, several citizens were at the National Police office, processing their identity documents, when they witnessed the crime. “I am shocked, it’s tremendous,” said one of the people who had witnessed the execution. A story that was repeated among the pedestrians who were walking through the area at that moment.
The Mossos have cordoned off the area, with support from the National Police. A tent has even been set up to cover the victim’s body, a middle-aged man. At twelve-thirty, the removal of the body was carried out. In addition to the Mossos investigators in Barcelona, the chief commissioner of the Mossos investigation, Ramon Chacón, and the judicial delegation, led by the magistrate of Barcelona’s investigative court 31, Luis Martínez, and the duty prosecutor, Alexandra García, have arrived at the scene.
On Sunday, a man was shot to death in the Zona Franca of Barcelona. An attacker fired several shots at him from behind on Minería Street. The same place where another man was executed on May 16. The Mossos have admitted their concern over the proliferation of firearms. So far this year, six people have been shot to death, four of them in the city of Barcelona.
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The situation has led the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, to convene an emergency session this Thursday with the leadership of the Mossos, with the intention of addressing “the evolution of the latest violent events related to organized crime organizations.” The meeting will be attended by the Director General of the Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, the Chief Commissioner of the force, Miquel Esquius, and the Intendant of the headquarters, Toni Rodríguez.
Shootings continue to rise in Catalonia. Last year, the Mossos recorded a total of 93 incidents in which someone used a firearm, which is 45% more than the previous year, according to police sources consulted by EL PAÍS. Already in 2024, the figures showed an increase in this type of confrontation compared to the fifty or so shootings in 2023. That year, precisely, the Mossos launched a specific operational plan to curb the use of handguns. The number of people arrested for possession or use of firearms also supports the increase: it went from 248 to 293 last year. Mossos analysts link the problem to drug trafficking and blame the rise on marijuana cultivation.
