A heartbroken mother is demanding action after her 20-year-old son was wrongly targeted in a gangland assassination in Malaga city.
Named only as Nacho, the victim was sitting on a bench near his home last Friday when three men approached and opened fire without warning.
He was struck at least twice, with bullets hitting his back and one of his legs, before managing to seek refuge inside a nearby Dia supermarket.
Nacho, described by his mother as a ‘good boy’ and ‘animal lover who loved his mother and friends’, was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery but died from his injuries several hours later.
Police have now confirmed that he had no links to organised crime or drug trafficking and possessed no criminal record.
Their leading theory is that the gunmen confused Nacho with another person, although the investigation remains open and under judicial secrecy.
Officers are also examining whether the suspects wrongly interpreted his presence in the area as a threat.
‘My son was a good boy’
Nacho’s mother has issued a statement insisting that her son lived far removed from Malaga’s criminal underworld.
‘My son was a good boy, hardworking and loved very much by his friends,’ she said.
‘He was not linked to anything criminal. Quite the opposite, he loved his mother and his friends.’
She remembered him as a great animal lover and described him as an innocent victim of escalating violence.
‘He is a victim of the extreme violence established in society and, lately, in Malaga,’ she said.
The grieving mother called on the authorities to deploy more officers and take stronger action to ensure that no other family suffers a similar tragedy.
She also thanked the police, paramedics and local residents who attempted to help her son after the shooting.
Three suspects in custody
The attack happened at around 11.40am on Friday, September 18, close to Plaza Virgen del Rocio and Calle Pinosol.
Three men allegedly approached Nacho as he sat on a bench and fired at him several times.
Security patrols arrested the first suspect within minutes.
Investigators later identified a Malaga property linked to him, where a second alleged participant was detained following a search.
The third suspect had allegedly changed his clothes and appearance before fleeing the city. He was located and arrested on a street in Fuengirola at around 11pm that night.
All three exercised their right not to give evidence when they appeared before a judge on Monday.
They were remanded in custody without bail while being investigated on suspicion of homicide. Pretrial detention is a precautionary measure and does not imply guilt.
The case, known as Operation Brown, is being investigated by Malaga’s Court of Instruction Number 7.
Specialist officers from UDYCO Costa del Sol and GRECO Costa del Sol continue to work to determine why Nacho was targeted and whether another person had been the intended victim.
It was the second shooting reported in Malaga city within a month, following an incident in Monte Pavero in which bullets struck a vehicle but nobody was injured.
