Masked gunman shoots British expat in Spain as he returned home with partner
A British expat in Spain remains in a “very serious” condition after being shot twice at by a masked gunman after he returned home with his partner.
The 27-year-old was shot and hit twice in the village of Santiago de la Ribera on the Mar Menor near La Manga golf resort.
Sustaining wounds in his knee and his side, two local police officers used their own hands to plug the bullet holes and stop him from bleeding to death.
The officers have been credited with saving his life following the attack that took place at around 8.30pm on November 18.
The man was shot by the assailant while approaching his apartment block, with neighbours saying that they thought the shots were made by children playing with firecrackers.
The gunman had an accomplice who drove the vehicle. Following the shooting, they fled the scene and later set fire to the car after leaving it abandoned in a tunnel on the nearby AP-7 motorway.
The Briton is currently in hospital, where he is in a “very serious” condition.
Officers say they are unsure of what the motive of the attack may be, though there is no indication at this point that it was a robbery gone wrong.
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Just a 20-minute drive away from the site of the shooting, two Britons were “decapitated” on November 16 after their car was hit by a speedboat that came loose from a vehicle in front.
The pair died instantly, with a third person who was severely injured in a critical condition in a hospital nearby.
A massive pile-up involving around six cars occurred following the incident, with eight people being injured following the initial collision.
The collision took place on the RM-12, a dual carriageway known colloquially as La Manga motorway.
The driver of the car with the boat attached reportedly fled the scene, and the police have launched a manhunt to find him.
The spokesperson said: “The accident happened around 9.30pm last night on the RM-12 around the El Algar municipality.
“A semi-rigid boat on board a trailer a vehicle was pulling came off and ended on the road across both lanes.
“The four-seater ’32-ft long’ speed boat that hit the two men is a suspected ‘narco lancha’ which is used by drug smugglers.
“A car travelling behind it with three British men inside aged between 47 and 54 smashed into the vessel. Two of those people died and another, who was the driver, was critically injured.
“Eight other people travelling in six vehicles behind them also crashed into the boat and were injured.
“The driver of the vehicle that was travelling with the speed boat on the trailer fled the scene.
“He has yet to be arrested. The boat he was carrying that ended up on the dual-carriageway has all the characteristics of a so-called ‘narco lancha’ involved in drug trafficking and an investigation is ongoing.”