Suspected Azpeitia killer arrested after surrendering at Ondarroa police station
A 43-year-old man surrendered at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday in Ondarroa carrying a firearm. The Ertzaintza detained him nearly 80 hours after the shooting death of Alex Aizpuru.
The Azpeitia crime suspect surrenders in Ondarroa with a weapon
Nearly 80 hours after the murder of Alex Aizpuru Arnaitz Rubio in Azpeitia, the search for the suspected perpetrator came to an end on Saturday morning. According to noticiasdegipuzkoa.eus, the suspect—a 43-year-old man—presented himself voluntarily at the Ondarroa police station at 5:30 a.m. carrying a short firearm, which was seized immediately. The Ertzaintza detained him as the suspected author of homicide with a firearm.
The detainee was taken to police facilities to carry out the appropriate proceedings before being brought before a judge, as confirmed by the Basque Police in a statement issued this morning.
The crime, committed in broad daylight
The murder occurred on Tuesday in Azpeitia, between the football field and the bullring of the town. According to a reconstruction of events and the testimony of several witnesses, the attacker's vehicle—a grey Volkswagen—struck the taxi driven by the victim from behind at a roundabout on Artzubia avenue. When Aizpuru, known as 'Etxaun', got out of the car, he received approximately five shots, at least one of them fatal to the head. The perpetrator fled the scene without saying a word and later abandoned the vehicle in the same town.
The attack caused profound shock in Azpeitia for having occurred in broad daylight and at close range. The Ertzaintza remained on maximum alert during the four days the search lasted, given the possibility that the suspect was armed and had an escape plan.
Large-scale search operation
The suspected attacker's vehicle was located at 23:25 hours on Tuesday itself, barely three hours after the crime, in another area of Azpeitia town centre. Both that car and the victim's taxi were taken to the Ertzaintza's Scientific Police facilities for visual inspection.
Identification of the suspect was quick thanks to witness testimony and the discovery of the vehicle. The Territorial Criminal Investigation Service of Gipuzkoa took over direction of the investigation from that point. The operation included surveillance camera footage review, analysis of the mobile phones of those involved, and exhaustive searches by rapid response Bizkor teams at several family properties in Azpeitia and Azkoitia.
Criminal record and possible settling of accounts
Authorities kept all hypotheses open regarding the motive for the crime throughout the investigation, although the hypothesis of a settling of accounts gained ground. The detainee has three previous arrests for offences against public health and completed seven years in prison from an eleven-year sentence imposed in 2009 for drug trafficking, following the discovery at his home of significant quantities of amphetamines and marijuana.
The Ertzaintza is now working to complete and confirm what occurred during the four days that elapsed between the crime and the suspect's surrender, including the motivation and planning of the murder.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)