For some time now, the police, including the Mossos d’Esquadra, have been deciphering, analyzing, and interpreting all the data that can be extracted from an incident. This is what is called “police intelligence,” which is recorded in reports prepared by analysts and helps to understand objectively what is happening. It is information that is highly considered in decision-making or in the design of prevention policies. Every firearm incident is dissected, literally. And some data from that analysis show the real proportions of a problem that concerns the population and security officials. In Catalonia, there are on average two shootings per week.
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The figure is not inflated nor does it respond to any subjective perception. It is an objective figure, obtained from the statistical average. In other words, every four days there is a shooting in Catalonia. This is the official balance of firearm incidents from last year accessed by La Vanguardia.
More than half of the incidents were warning shots fired into the air, with no injuries or victims
Last year, 93 shootings were recorded, and in 2024 there were 69. An increase of 30%. Broadening the focus, it is known that only in 29 of those exchanges of gunfire were injuries recorded, but in seven there were deaths. In 57 incidents, the shots had no consequences. These are mostly warning shots fired into the air, which unfortunately are well known by residents of some neighborhoods like La Mina. Just last week, for example, one of these incidents occurred, with the particularity that several shots entered the windows of families unrelated to the conflict, and some bullets hit windows and furniture inside.
The truth is that despite the high number of incidents, the number of deaths in Catalonia has remained quite stable in recent years, and it is one of the lowest among major European cities.
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So far this year, four people have been murdered by gunfire in Catalonia, the last one on Saturday night. A 43-year-old Spanish man was shot in the back in the Marina neighborhood and died almost instantly. Little has been revealed about the victim, except that he had a criminal record for drug trafficking.
Those 93 shootings last year are incidents directly linked to crime; suicides by firearm, accidents involving hunters, or shots fired by security forces with their service weapons, as well as incidents related to gender-based violence, are not counted.
The total number of firearm incidents, if those other elements are included, rises to a total of 626.
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