A suspected serial killer believed to have murdered at least three homeless men in Barcelona has been taken into custody, accused of stalking the city’s deserted streets amid Spain’s Covid-19 lockdown for defenseless victims.
The suspect – a 35-year-old Brazilian man who has yet to be named, according to local media – was arrested on Tuesday on the outskirts of Barcelona mere hours after another victim succumbed to injuries sustained in a grisly beating, police said. He was identified with the help of witnesses and footage from security cameras.
“The Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) of the Barcelona Metropolitan Police Region have arrested a man related to the death of a man last night in the Eixample district of Barcelona and are investigating their relationship with other homicides that have taken place in recent weeks in Barcelona,” the police said in a statement.
They added elsewhere that each murder took place around the same area, not far from the picturesque Sagrada Familia basilica, a major landmark in the city.
?? Under arrest a man for the relationship with the series of violent deaths during the last weeks of sleeping rough in Barcelona
With all three homicides unfolding over the last two weeks, police observed a pattern in the killings: all victims were homeless living on the streets of Barcelona, and all were bludgeoned to death with blunt objects. Police are also looking into a fourth destitute victim who was killed in a stabbing, but his death is believed to be unrelated, linked to a fight with another homeless man, local media report.
“The way this person behaved did not leave his victims any way to defend themselves. The violence was excessive and gratuitous,” Joan Carles Granja, who is leading the investigation into the murders, said at a press conference.
While Granja noted that the suspect was “a bit incoherent” after his arrest and that police haven’t ruled out a “mental problem,” no motivation has yet been determined for the vicious beatings.
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