The residents of the Barcelona neighborhood of Sarrià spent all day yesterday with woe in their hearts, waiting for the Mossos d’Esquadra to arrest a man who was barricaded in his house. An individual who was armed with a gun was arrested in the afternoon after several hours locked in his home. The events took place in a flat located right next to the Sagrad Cor school.
The arrested person is a 53-year-old man who had locked himself in his house with a gun since 11 am. The incident took place at number 58 duquessa d’Orleans street, when the individual went down to the street and pointed a gun at two teenage girls whom he criticized for making a lot of noise. He then returned to his home, where he took refuge. The two young women, very scared, alerted the Mossos, who quickly went to the scene to arrest the armed man.
The Generalitat police mobilized the special units: the special intervention group and the kidnapping and extortion group. The negotiation for the individual to drop his attitude lasted for hours.
The threat with a firearm to two young people caused alarm in the neighborhood and caused a multitude of rumors to proliferate: that if two girls had been kidnapped, that if the kidnapper had locked the two minors in a store and was with them threatening them with a gun, that if he had locked himself in the house with his wife, his mother and his daughters he pointed a gun at his head… The neighbors witnessed how the Mossos cordoned off the area and they were guarding the surroundings of the building waiting to arrest the entrenched individual. They remained on guard for the whole day awaiting official confirmation of what had happened. And finally the evening came and everything was calmer than expected. The man ended up opening the door calmly and was arrested. The Mossos found the weapon and determined that it was a simulated gun that shoots plastic balls.
The Sagrad Cor school, which is a few meters from the residence of the entrenched, issued a statement to the parents of the students to reassure them. “The street of Ramon Miquel i Planas has been cordoned off by the police as a security measure, as they will proceed to the arrest of a neighbor of the street who this morning intimidated some students of training cycles”, they explained. “No one has been harmed, everything has been left in a panic. You don’t have to worry,” said the note.
