He barricaded himself in his house with his two youngest grandchildren for twelve hours and ended up killing the boys, aged 10 and 12, in Húetor Tájar, Granada, and then ended up committing suicide. The 72-year-old man would have had an argument with his son-in-law and father of the children before committing the murder, according to sources close to the investigation. The Civil Guard has opened an investigation into the events to clarify the incident.
According to what has emerged, the man was going through a difficult time after the loss of his wife and his daughter, the mother of the children, who died in a car accident in which he was the driver.
Apparently, the aggressor had shown a violent attitude at 9:40 p.m. on Sunday night, when he locked himself in the home located on Alfredo Nobel Street and fired two shots into the air from a window, an event that caused an alert to Emergencies 112. It was the son-in-law who turned to the Local Police to warn that loud noises had been heard in the man’s house and that his children remained in that house.
Two other relatives of the old man tried to convince him to let his grandchildren leave the house, but in exchange they received death threats. Throughout the night, according to some witnesses, two more shots were heard. It was this morning when the agents entered the house and found the three bodies.
Agents from the State Security Forces and Corps and a negotiator who would have been in contact with the aggressor throughout the early hours of the morning traveled to the scene of the events in this small Granada municipality. The presence of the Special Intervention Unit from Madrid was also required, with which another negotiator was also traveling. Apparently, during the communications nothing was known about the condition of the minors, so, a priori, it is impossible to determine the time at which they lost their lives.
As reported by the Subdelegation of the Government of Andalusia, around 05:00 this morning the grandfather would have told the agents that he was going to dress the boys to go to school. However, it would not be until 8:00 when the Special Unit, in the absence of new communication with the man, decided to enter the house, at which time the grandfather committed suicide.
There they found the dramatic scene: one of the minors, it has emerged, would have died from asphyxiation, while his brother would have been fatally shot. Both were in separate rooms. The grandfather, for his part, would have also taken his life with a firearm, specifically with a 12-gauge shotgun.
Given the situation, it is unknown if the children were murdered last night, an assumption in which the man would have been deceiving the negotiators throughout the early morning.
According to the Granada newspaper Ideal, the man suffered a traffic accident in March when he was traveling with his wife, his daughter (mother of the murdered minors) and both children. He was the driver of the accident vehicle and would have suffered a faint that caused him to go off the road in which his daughter died and where his wife also lost her life several days later. The boys were badly injured and, according to local media, they are still recovering from the accident.
This traumatic situation could have caused the aggressor, whom one of his relatives has described as a “normal” person, to lose his balance and end up acting in this cruel way. What has been confirmed is that he had a weapons license.
The event has left an entire town shocked. The drama that this family suffered with the death of the grandmother and mother after suffering the car accident has only worsened with the murder of the little ones. The reactions of pain and solidarity have not stopped occurring, as have the messages of condolences from politicians.
The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, regretted the events on the social network X: “Horrified after learning that a man has murdered his two grandchildren in Huétor Tájar. It’s awful. All our love to the families of the two children and the hug of all
For his part, the leader of the PSOE-A, Juan Espadas, also joined this message: “A lot of pain and helplessness after learning about this dramatic event. My sincere condolences and a big hug to the family and relatives of the children, victims of this horror. Much strength to the mayor, Fernando Delgado, and all the residents of Huétor Tájar. Always by your side.”
For his part, the mayor of Huétor Tájar, Fernando Delgado, has decreed three days of official mourning after the crime, as well as announcing the suspension of the San Isidro Labrador Fair. “We are dismayed,” said the first mayor, who wanted to convey his affection and support to the family, especially to the boys’ father, a well-known person who works in an educational center in the municipality.
The head of the town council has stated that, after the accident, many in the town knew that the grandfather “was not very well”, however, no one could imagine “that he was going to do what he did”, which has meant a “disaster” and a “tragedy” for a desolate town.
