Fresh shooting without casualties in Viladecans adds to chain of incidents in metropolitan area
The Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating a shooting that occurred on Wednesday on Avenida Siglo XXI in Viladecans following a fight on a bar terrace. There are no casualties or arrests.
Shooting in Viladecans: shell casings on the ground and no arrests
The Mossos d'Esquadra have opened an investigation following a fresh shooting recorded on Wednesday at approximately 21:30 on Avenida Siglo XXI in Viladecans, according to La Vanguardia. Sources from the Catalan regional police confirm that there are no reported casualties.
Upon arriving at the scene, officers found several shell casings on the roadway, but found no individuals involved in the incident. The suspected perpetrators fled before police arrived, according to municipal sources, who also confirm that there were neither casualties nor arrests.
Avenida del Siglo XXI connects the Viladecans business park with the Sales neighbourhood. Sources familiar with the area note that it is not a conflictive zone.
According to sources with knowledge of what occurred, the incident was triggered by a dispute between two customers on a bar terrace. Both moved a few metres away from the establishment, and it was then that the shots were fired. The business reopened normally the following day.
A pattern repeating across the metropolitan area
The Viladecans incident is part of a series of shootings recorded in recent weeks across the Barcelona metropolitan area. The most serious was the murder of a man shot in the head on Calle Minería in the Catalan capital last Saturday.
Hours after that killing, in the Sants-Montjuïc district, the Guàrdia Urbana of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat arrested a person allegedly connected to another shooting without casualties on Calle Batllori in the Sant Josep neighbourhood. On 4 May a similar incident occurred in the Torrassa neighbourhood, also in l'Hospitalet.
Sant Adrià de Besòs has not escaped the problem either: authorities arrested a group linked to numerous firearm incidents since 2024 in the Mina neighbourhood.
Two shootings per week in Catalonia last year
The context is what the Mossos d'Esquadra themselves describe as a normalisation of settling scores with gunfire. Last year, Catalonia recorded an average of two shootings per week, with a death toll of seven people. Data from the Catalan regional police reflect a 30 per cent increase in firearm incidents compared to the previous year. More than half of the incidents involved warning shots of an intimidatory character, without casualties or fatalities.
Source: La Vanguardia