In the small Granada town of Huétor Tájar, the theory of “compassionate homicide” has been proposed as the main motive for the tragic murder of two children at the hands of their grandfather, who later took his own life. This term refers to a situation in which a person kills another to avoid “supposed evils and misfortunes,” based on a delusional conviction that the victim will suffer irremediably.
The entire town is shocked after learning of the murder of the two little ones, ages 10 and 12, at the hands of their grandfather Pepe, who also finally decided to end his life. The tragedy has left residents wondering if it could have been avoided.
According to neighbors, interviewed by the ‘TardeAR’ program, they were a humble and hard-working family. A normal family from Huétor Tájar, a town of 10,000 inhabitants in the province of Granada. But this normality was cut short two months ago, on March 18, after a car accident that changed everything. The grandfather, Pepe, 72, was driving the vehicle and crashed into a wall. Inside the vehicle were his wife, his daughter and his two grandchildren. The impact was fatal for the two women, who died. The grandfather and two children were saved from the accident, and after the impact they were hospitalized for the injuries they suffered.
“Since the accident, Pepe had changed,” said Juan, an old friend of Grandpa Pepe. “We suspected that he was going to take his own life, but we didn’t imagine that he would kill his grandchildren.” For his part, Manuel supports the theory that the accident conditioned his life: “He loved his grandchildren very much and his grandchildren loved him. He took them and brought them to school.” According to his friends, Pepe has never had any violent history.
Following the theory of those closest to him, pain and guilt took over Pepe after the accident. The same sources confirm that his relationship with his son-in-law became complicated. The children’s father did not want the children to spend a lot of time with their grandfather. The two families lived side by side in the same building and this Sunday everything exploded. An argument broke out between Pepe and his son-in-law, and his grandfather took out the hunting shotgun he had at home. The father notified the social services and the Civil Guard to try to make the man see reason, explained Fernando Delgado, the mayor of Huétor Tájar.
After hearing several shots, the protocol was activated and the Special Intervention Unit of the Civil Guard arrived. Negotiations continued, but at five in the morning the man assured that he was going to leave to prepare the children for school. From that moment on, surveillance was maintained, but everything remained silent. Around eight in the morning on Monday, when the negotiators saw that the children were not leaving the house to go to school, they decided to go inside. At that moment, the grandfather shot himself and it was discovered that the two minors were dead in different rooms, according to Pedro Fernández, the Government delegate in Andalusia.
The tragedy was confirmed: the two little ones, ages 10 and 12, were dead. One with a gunshot wound and another apparently died of asphyxiation. An unexpected tragedy that has plunged Huétor Tájar into the deepest mourning. The people have declared three days of official mourning for a tragedy that occurred.
In the town they knew that since the accident, Pepe, the grandfather who drove the vehicle where his wife and daughter died, was undergoing psychological treatment. More than once, those close to him say, he had said that his life no longer had meaning and that he would leave and not do it alone. But no one imagined that this threat would become a reality.
