Shots Fired During Morning Fight in Zona Franca Park, One Man Arrested
Shots were fired during a fight in the Jardins de la Mediterrània in Barcelona's Zona Franca on Nov. 8. No one was hurt and the shooter is still at large.
Someone fired several shots during a fight in the Jardins de la Mediterrània, a public garden in the Marina de Port neighborhood of Barcelona’s Zona Franca, on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 8. No one was injured. The person who fired the gun got away before police arrived and had not been caught by midday, according to El Caso.
Officers of the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonia’s police) arrested one man at the scene. He was held for resisting and confronting the officers and for disobedience, not for the shooting itself, according to police sources quoted by El Periódico via the EFE news agency.
What happened in the Jardins de la Mediterrània
Several people called the emergency services at around nine in the morning after a fight in the garden ended with gunfire. The area belongs to the Sants-Montjuïc district, in the south of the city near the port.
Witnesses told police that one of the people involved fired several times. Neighbors put the number of shots at up to five, El Caso reported. Police have not yet established whether the weapon was a real pistol or a blank-firing gun, which makes a loud bang but fires no bullet.
Several patrol cars and public order vans of the Mossos went to the scene. When they arrived, the suspected shooter was gone and they found no wounded people. Officers then identified several people who were still in the garden and who may have taken part in the fight.
The arrest at the scene
While officers were checking identities, one man resisted and tried to confront them, according to El Caso. He was arrested on charges of atentado contra los agentes de la autoridad (assault on law enforcement officers) and disobedience. Police have not said whether he had any role in the shooting.
An argument outside a nightclub
Witnesses said the fight began as an argument between a man and a woman at the door of a well-known nightlife venue nearby, as first reported by the local paper La Ciutat and cited by El Caso. The venue was not named. The exact circumstances are still unknown, and the Mossos have opened an investigation into the shooting and into what started the fight.
Why it matters for Zona Franca residents
This is the second shooting in the Zona Franca in recent months. Five months earlier, a man was shot dead on Carrer de la Mineria in the same part of the city, El Caso noted. Sunday’s incident took place in broad daylight in a public garden used by local families.
For people who live or work around Marina de Port, the main open question is the suspect, who remains on the run. The Mossos have not released a description or said whether they believe the weapon was real.
What happens next
The investigation by the Mossos d’Esquadra will try to identify and detain the person who fired the shots and establish why the fight broke out. The man arrested for resisting officers faces the two charges already filed. Police had not released any further details by Sunday afternoon.
Sources: El Caso, El Periódico
