Young man rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds after Marbella rocked by fifth shooting in as many weeks

Marbella has been the scene of yet another shooting after the fifth incident in just over a month rocked the Costa del Sol town this Tuesday morning (2 April).

A 21-year-old man was rushed to the town's Hospital Costa del Sol in the early hours with at least two bullet wounds following the shooting just after midnight in the Los Naranjos area in Nueva Andalucía. He was allegedly shot in the knee and genital area.

Several local residents phoned the 112 emergency number to alert authorities that "three or four gunshots" had been heard. The shooting was reportedly between people inside two vehicles. National Police officers are investigating whether there was crossfire or whether the trigger was only pulled from one of the cars.

Shots were still being fired when the first patrol, but the police presence then sparked those involved in the incident to flee the scene.

It is the fifth shooting incident in Marbella in just over a month and the third in which a person has been injured and rushed to hospital. Almost all of these incidents have taken place in the Nueva Andalucía area.

The last similar incident happened in the early hours of Saturday 16 March in the Puerto Banús area. Sources said the victim was outside a shop and the occupants of several vehicles were involved in the shooting. The young man was taken to the Hospital Clínico in Malaga.

On Monday 11 March, two people on a motorbike fired several shots in the middle of a street in Nueva Andalucía. Several bullets hit the window of a restaurant, although no one was hit. Police officers counted about ten shell casings at the scene.

In an earlier incident, another young man was wounded after being shot twice in a Marbella street shortly after 11pm on Saturday 10 February, again in the Nueva Andalucía area. The victim, of Nordic origin, was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the leg. National Police officers arrested three people for their alleged involvement in the incident, which was reportedly between Swedish gangs.

Only two days later there was another incident, also in the same street, as local residents alerted authorities after allegedly hearing gunshots, although no cartridge cases were found at the scene, so the shooting could not be confirmed.