Yasine Kanjaa, the young man who killed a sacristan yesterday and injured a priest in Algeciras, is already being investigated as an alleged terrorist, albeit with mental imbalance. After the first inquiries after his arrest late yesterday afternoon after committing the fatal attack on two churches, the National Court has decided to continue the matter as a case of terrorism, according to sources from the investigation confirm to La Vanguardia.
After the events and the arrest of the perpetrator of the crime, agents from the General Information Commission of the National Police proceeded to search his home for about two hours. There they also interrogated the two roommates of the arrested person, although they were not arrested. From there, the agents took documentation and electronic devices.
After analyzing the first data, the judge of the National Court who has taken on the case, Joaquín Gadea, has decided to continue the case for an alleged crime of terrorism. Investigation sources maintain that Yasine Kanjaa will be investigated as an alleged jihadist, who a priori would have acted alone. However, the first data they handle is that he could suffer from some mental imbalance.
The possible rapid process of radicalization that he would have experienced is also on the table of the investigators. The detainee was not being followed by information agents or by other police groups. “Neither in the last days nor before,” sources from the Ministry of the Interior specify. The detainee also does not have a criminal record in Spain or in other allied countries.
In the entry and search car, to which La Vanguardia has had access, the judge recounts the ‘deadly’ route that Kanjaa made. Although he maintains that the intentions for which he entered the Church of San Isidro at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday are unknown, the truth is that once inside he began a discussion with those present, “vehemently telling the parishioners that the only religion to follow is the Islamic religion”.
According to the account of the events, after leaving said place uttering messages in Arabic “whose content is unknown”, at 7:40 p.m. that afternoon he returned to the scene of the events. From inside the church, someone outside the church was heard shouting in Arabic.
“Once the mass is over, the priest in charge of it comes down from the pulpit to check what was happening, at which point the person investigated, carrying a large machete in his hand, suddenly assaults the priest, causing him serious injuries.” , collect the resolution.
He also tried to attack one of the witnesses. From there he fled and went to another Catholic center of worship called Virgen La Palma located about 200 meters from the previous place. “In that place he meets the sacristan of this church, who was leaving the place through a back door. At that moment, Kanjaa began several attacks on him, causing him some initial injuries,” he says.
The sacristan tried to flee but was hit by the attacker “who, once he had him on the ground, held the katana with both hands and looking up at the sky and shouting a few words in Arabic among which the word ‘allah’ was heard. delivers one last killing blow,” he emphasizes.
The judge’s account goes on to explain that after ending the life of the sacristan, “quietly” he went to the so-called Ermita Europa located in that same square and tried to access the interior of it. It was there when agents of the Algeciras Local Police were waiting for him. He did not resist, he allowed himself to be arrested.
“Once arrested, he is transferred to the medical center of that city to receive medical assistance, at which point he repeatedly yells ‘Allahu Akbar’,” he concludes.
The investigator believes that these events are likely to be provisionally classified as a crime of murder and injury with a dangerous instrument for terrorist purposes.
The National Police has asked the judge for an extension of the detention to continue with the investigations in Algeciras before handing over the young Moroccan before the judge. The young Moroccan who killed a sacristan and seriously injured the priest of another parish in Algeciras, who has already been discharged and is at home, in addition to leaving other wounded on his way, will go to court next monday.
A similar matter is also being investigated by the National Court for a fatal attack in 2021 in the Murcian town of Torre Pacheco in which two people died after a vehicle invaded the road and crashed into the terrace of a bar. According to legal sources, one year after the event the matter remains secret in the National Court and for now it continues to be investigated as terrorism, despite the inconsistencies that the author has been showing.
One of the pieces of evidence was a handwritten confession from the driver of the vehicle, although it had features of mental imbalance. Before the Algeciras attack, Spain has not suffered any jihadist attack on Catholic churches.