The double murder that occurred on Monday night in the El Canalillo neighborhood, in El Ejido (Almería), has taken a turn in just 48 hours. What was initially investigated as an episode of domestic violence within a family marked by marginalization and police records now points to a possible case of gender-based violence and vicarious violence.
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The alleged perpetrator, a 25-year-old young man who will testify before the judge this Thursday, is also being investigated for an attempted sexist murder against his partner and for the serious injuries caused to his barely seven-month-old son.
The tragedy began shortly after eleven o’clock on the night of Monday, May 18, in this small scattered community of barely 130 residents, near Balanegra. The first alerts reported several shots on Mar Adriático street. When emergency services arrived, they found the mother of the detainee and her partner, considered the stepfather of the alleged aggressor, dead inside a vehicle.
The attack on his baby could be framed as a case of vicarious violence
But the horror did not end there. According to the reconstruction carried out by the Civil Guard, the suspect’s partner managed to escape from that same car with the baby in her arms. She came out unharmed, although the child received two gunshots, one in the head and another in the jaw. The minor remains hospitalized in serious condition in the pediatric ICU of the Princesa Leonor Maternal-Child Hospital in Almería, where he had to undergo emergency surgery.
The investigation now considers that the attack on the baby could fit into an episode of vicarious violence, that is, exercised on the children to harm the mother. The Government’s deputy delegate in Almería, José María Martín, confirmed this Wednesday that witness statements and other evidence have led investigators to redirect the proceedings towards gender-based violence, despite the fact that there were no prior complaints nor was the partner registered in the Viogén system.
During the escape, the alleged aggressor continued shooting. A 19-year-old young neighbor, who came out alarmed after hearing the shots, received three bullet wounds in the abdomen and chest and remains hospitalized in serious condition at the Poniente University Hospital. Her daughter, a 21-month-old baby, was also injured and remains in the pediatric ICU. They are joined by a 60-year-old man, hit by a shot to the head when the suspect was trying to leave the neighborhood. The injured man remains hospitalized in the ICU of the Torrecárdenas Hospital.
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The detainee was located around four in the morning on Tuesday, after several hours of searching involving the Civil Guard, Local Police, and agents from the Rapid Action Group (GAR), supported by thermal drones. According to sources from the investigation, the young man has a diagnosis of severe mental illness, a circumstance that will now have to be judicially assessed to determine his degree of criminal responsibility.
The shock remains in El Ejido. The City Council decreed an official day of mourning and called a minute of silence this Wednesday in the Plaza Mayor in memory of the victims. The mayor, Francisco Góngora, publicly expressed his condolences to the family and called for increased security in this area of the municipality where, as he recalled, repeated police interventions related to drugs and weapons have taken place.
The young man appears before the court this Thursday accused of up to eight crimes: two completed murders, several attempted murders or homicides (including those related to his partner and his son), and an illegal possession of weapons offense, since the nine-millimeter pistol used in the attack lacked legal authorization.
Meanwhile, the Civil Guard keeps the proceedings open to clarify the origin of the weapon and to finish outlining the motive of a night that has left El Ejido plunged into a mixture of astonishment, fear, and mourning.
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