Three people arrested in Malaga following murder of young man outside evangelical church in Valencia

National Police officers have arrested three people in Malaga - two men and a woman - on suspicion that they were involved in the murder of a young man, 24, in Valencia's Nazaret neighbourhood. The arrests took place around 1pm on Monday, a day before the victim's funeral, following a swift investigation by the National Police force's homicide unit.

Both the victim, Antonio Flores Castro, and his brother Israel, 17, were stabbed outside the Iglesia Evangelista de Nazaret after a dispute that had started the previous day. The argument had been stirred when the victims' mother allegedly made comments about the way the church pianist had played. Her criticism caused tension, which was dissolved once the pastor intervened.

However, when the family returned to the church the next day, the sense of discomfort was still lingering - something that Antonio felt as well, as he told his father, Luis: "Dad, let's go, they are giving me bad looks."

While Luis was saying goodbye to the pastor, his two sons went out of the church, where they were surrounded by several individuals (allegedly including the pianist and relatives of his) and stabbed. Antonio died in a private car that was transferring him to hospital, while Israel remains admitted after being seriously injured.

One of the arrested men is believed to be the actual murderer and the police are investigating the degree of involvement of the other two detainees. The three suspects are 43, 40 and 22 years of age. The woman was released after questioning while the two men will be brought before the courts in Valencia. One of them has previously had problems in another evangelical church, because he tried to enter the temple with a cane with a sharpened tip. The incident happened a few months ago in the hamlet of La Torre.

About 200 people bid farewell to Antonio on Tuesday, in an evangelist service held at the municipal funeral parlour in Valencia. The burial took place around 11.30am.

The National Police mounted an operation around the funeral parlour and the cemetery to prevent possible incidents such as those that took place on Friday night at Hospital La Fe, where Israel was admitted.

The boys' father and the church pastor were the voice of peace among the most exalted relatives. "Luis is a man of peace and is with God and his family. He wants justice, not revenge. Although he is very saddened by the death of his son, he does not want more blood to be shed," said the pastor shortly after leaving the wake.

Luis has asked the family not to avenge his son's death. According to Las Provincias newspaper, several relatives spoke to him and offered to look for the perpetrators of the crime in order to take justice into their own hands. He convinced them not to use violence, without knowing that the police had already made the first arrests in Malaga.

Several evangelist pastors, including Antonio Vargas, are also mediating so that no more blood is spilled. "We want them to apply God's justice, divine justice, because we are people of peace and the family does not want revenge," Vargas said after offering his condolences to the parents.

The crime has caused great shock and indignation in Nazaret, which is home to a large number of Roma families who admire and respect the descendants of 'El Chele' - a patriarch who held authority for many years because of his age and wisdom. Antonio - the victim - was the great-grandson of the man known as 'the king of the gypsies' in the seaside neighbourhoods in Valencia.