Spanish police are searching for a man suspected of stabbing an 11-year-old boy to death on a football pitch.
The murder took place at around 9:45 a.m. on Sunday at the Ángel Tardío sports center in the town of Mocejón in central Spain. Witnesses report that a man, his face covered with a scarf and armed with a sharp object, attacked several people, who then fled. The attacker then attacked the boy, who fell to the ground on the side of the field, fatally injured.
Little information has emerged about the suspect, whose face was covered, but he is believed to be around 18 years old. Police said on Monday that he was wearing a white T-shirt and shorts and had dark hair. Security forces also told the Spanish newspaper that ABC that he escaped in an old grey Ford Mondeo.
He is also said to have entered the playing field through a gap in the fence, which leads neighbors to suspect that he knew the place.
The attack in the small town 65 km south of Madrid has shocked Spain. Politicians have condemned the murder, while the Guardia Civil has launched a large-scale manhunt for the suspect.
The mayor of Mocejón, Concepción Cedillo, said on Sunday: “This is a sad day for a city torn by pain. And if every murder hurts, how much more does the murder of an innocent child who was playing football with his friends this morning hurt.”
Emiliano Garcia-Page, President of the Castile-La Mancha region, said on X: “I express my condolences and sympathy to the child’s family and I also hope that the perpetrator of the events will soon be found and brought to justice as soon as possible.”
“These situations are unacceptable and must lead to just punishment.”
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain’s opposition centre-right Partido Popular party, said he was “shocked by the fatal knife attack on an 11-year-old boy in the province of Toledo”.
“All my solidarity goes to the family and my support to the (Guardia Civil) so that they find the perpetrator of this cruelty and rain down the full force of the law on him,” he wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Vox leader Santiago Abascal said: “They are turning Spain into an unrecognizable and dangerous country for all generations, regardless of whether they are the youngest or the oldest.”
“There is no appropriate punishment in the criminal code for such a heinous criminal. And there is nothing that can make up for the terrible loss of his family and loved ones.”
“I pray for them.”
