Barcelona inter-clan shooting injures ten-year-old girl

A ten-year-old girl sustained a gunshot wound to the arm in the town of Badalona (Barcelona metropolitan area) on Sunday evening.

According to the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), the incident occurred during an inter-clan shooting between rival gangs, where a ricocheting bullet hit the girl.

The shooting took place at around 7pm on 31 May, in Sant Roc, which is one of the most troubled areas in Catalonia.

The girl's family took her to a hospital. Mayor of Badalona Xavier García Albiol reported that "the injury is minor".

The Mossos d'Esquadra's have taken over the investigation, which the mayor has attributed to a dispute between squatter clans vying for control of the area.

"We won't solve the problem until we decisively confront the fact that we're talking about scum incapable of living in society," Albiol said, accusing the government of inaction.

Albiol explained that the perpetrators squat in flats in the area, "with illegally tapped electricity", to grow "marijuana plantations".

The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have since enhanced security in the area. This was the second shooting in Badalona in less than a week.

Five days prior to the incident, a man opened fire in a block of flats in Sant Roc. The police have attributed this incident to inter-clan territorial fights over drug-trafficking domination. There have also been recent shootings in the La Mina neighborhood.

The Mossos d'Esquadra attribute the increase in firearm incidents to the rise in drug-trafficking, especially marijuana, which has facilitated the entry of organised crime groups from various backgrounds.

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