Man left in wheelchair by previous shooting killed in Mijas gun attack

The fatal attack came after a violent past in which the young man had repeatedly appeared both as a suspect and a victim, including a 2022 shooting that left him in a wheelchair and a 2023 incident in which he opened fire on the Guardia Civil, shooting one of them in the foot.

The incident happened late on Monday afternoon, 10 August, in the Mijas Golf area. The Guardia Civil received a report that one person had stabbed another at a property.

Several patrols from the local station went to the scene but could not find either of those involved. They spoke to witnesses, who told them that the victim was bleeding heavily and that someone had taken him to hospital in a private car.

The Guardia Civil followed that lead to Hospital Costa del Sol. Staff there confirmed that a young man with stab wounds had arrived minutes earlier. Doctors did everything they could to save him, but their efforts proved unsuccessful.

The stab wound to his chest proved fatal. The police established that a friend who regularly visited him had found him badly injured at his home and put him in his car to take him urgently to hospital.

The dead man had a long history of violent incidents, both as a perpetrator and as a victim. He had been using a wheelchair since a shooting in 2022.

The attack took place on 22 October. The young man, who was of Moroccan origin, had been having dinner at a restaurant in the shopping centre at the Doña Lola development in the Calahonda area.

The attack happened at around 10.25pm. A. left the restaurant with two friends. As they headed towards their respective vehicles, a man appeared and pointed a pistol at them.

Witnesses said the gunman wore black clothing and had only his eyes visible. He had parked a scooter on the hard shoulder of the motorway, ready for his getaway, before heading straight towards the three young men.

Without saying a word, the masked gunman pointed directly at A. and pulled the trigger at least six times. Four bullets struck the young man in the shoulder and back, while two others hit nearby cars. The gunman then ran to the motorcycle and fled.

The injured man's companions, together with two bystanders who had no connection to the incident, alerted the emergency services and tried to help him.

At the scene, A. said he had lost sensation in the lower half of his body. Paramedics worked to stabilise him before taking him to Costa del Sol Hospital, the nearest hospital. Doctors later transferred him to Hospital Regional in Malaga city because of the nature of his injuries.

The bullets had entered his body but had not exited, so surgeons had to operate urgently to try to remove the projectiles. One of the bullets damaged his spine and affected movement in his lower body.

The Guardia Civil delved into the victim's extensive criminal record in search of possible enemies. The injured man was well known to Spain's security forces, who had arrested him numerous times, including for serious offences he had committed while still underage.

In 2021, for example, authorities linked him to a kidnapping in El Ejido, Almería, prompting investigators to consider the possibility that the shooting stemmed from a revenge attack.

Some of those incidents attracted considerable media attention. He had barricaded himself inside his home on two occasions, as SUR reported at the time.

In July 2020, officers arrested him after he stabbed his stepfather with a knife and barricaded himself inside his home while armed. The Guardia Civil and the Local Police eventually restrained him.

But the most serious incident came in 2023. On 29 May, a relative alerted the Guardia Civil that the young man had a gun and was threatening him. Several patrols went to the property and found A., who was already using a wheelchair, barricaded inside the house with a pistol.

The authorities then set up a security operation to cordon off the property and negotiate his surrender. When the police decided to intervene, the young man responded by opening fire on them and shot one of the Guardia Civil officers in the foot.

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