Malaga football coaches restrain armed young man fleeing from the police during match
The incident caused concern among residents of the Guadalmar area due to rumours that the man could be the suspect from the serious robbery assault that had happened the previous day
A group of coaches managed to restrain a young homeless man who entered the Guadalmar football pitch in Malaga armed with a knife on Saturday, 7 March. The man, who local residents are familiar with, was trying to flee from the police.
The incident took place at around 6.50pm, when the C. D. Guadalmar and U. D. Los Prados teams were playing.
According to the police, the young man had a search warrant. Upon seeing him with a knife, patrol officers tried to detain him, but he fled and jumped over the football pitch fence. His sole intention was to hide from the police.
However, the coaches of both teams noticed that he was carrying a knife and stopped him, which facilitated the arrest. Sources have said that the man might have suffered some minor injury from his own knife during the restraining act.
President of C. D. Guadalmar Andrés Guerrero told SUR that the young man often wanders around the area, but he has "never" been involved in any violent incidents towards the players or staff.
"He is a boy who is not well and needs help. We have tried to talk to him and I know that the social services have also tried, but he won't let them help him," Guerrero said.
"Logically, it's concerning when someone comes in with a knife and it was unpleasant, but the coaches acted very quickly," he added. The match resumed shortly after the police took away the young man.
Concerns on Saturday came not only from the event itself but also from some false rumours that the man could be somehow linked to the brutal robbery assault that put a 36-year-old man in a coma on Friday. Both incidents happened in the Guadalmar area, but they are two completely different cases.
