Three people – a 39-year-old woman eight months pregnant, another 62-year-old woman and a 16-year-old minor – died this Sunday and two others were injured (an 18-year-old man in serious condition and another person in a minor condition) in a shooting that occurred during peak hours (at 10:00 p.m.) in the El Rocío neighborhood of the Huelva town of Isla Cristina, according to Civil Guard sources and the Huelva newspaper. Information.
Two hooded men on a motorcycle arrived at the scene and one of them opened fire with a "long gun" and later fled, in what is confirmed as a settling of accounts motivated by personal disputes between families linked to drug trafficking for decades. According to Benemérita, the two deceased women are the sister and mother-in-law of 'El Baba', while the seriously injured person is his nephew. For his part, the deceased 16-year-old minor had no family relationship with the victims or any connection with the confrontation between these historical clans. The Civil Guard has taken charge of the investigation to clarify the exact circumstances of the crime and identify the perpetrators.
Before the agents went to the scene of the event, close to tourist areas, dozens of people gathered in the small square where the bodies lay, in a town full of visitors at this time of year. As the first sirens were heard, several neighbors approached cautiously to try to find out who the victims were, while others tried to leave the crime scene as soon as possible.
For now, the court has decreed the secrecy of the case and the area remains under heavy police deployment, awaiting forensic proceedings and proceedings. Investigation sources familiar with the context of the situation in the province assure EL MUNDO: "It could be Mexico but, once again, it is Huelva"
Frequent shootings
This shooting is directly related to the spiral of violence and the historical enmities between these clans, which on September 10, 2024 led to another episode with one man dead and two others injured in the El Torrejón neighborhood of Huelva, which has become a conflict zone. In just a month and a half, three shootings were recorded after the murder of a man at the hands of his brother-in-law in Plaza Violeta. The alleged perpetrator of that crime, known as 'El Baba', was arrested days later in Gijón, where the Investigative Court number 3 decreed his provisional detention, communicated and without bail for the crimes of murder and attempted murder.
However, his imprisonment did not serve to calm things down. Shortly after, relatives of the victim tried to take justice into their own hands and went to the home of 'El Baba's' family, triggering two shootings that left no victims. During the following weeks, there were new attacks with long weapons and repeat weapons against homes linked to the environment of the alleged murderer.
Given the escalation of violence, the National Police reinforced its presence in the neighborhood through deployments of the UPR (Prevention and Reaction Unit) to avoid new reprisals. Likewise, in June of last year, Isla Cristina was the scene of another shooting in which a man died and a woman was seriously injured, within the same context of prolonged family disputes linked to the events in El Torrejón.
"Persistent pressure"
Despite the feeling of citizen insecurity, just a few days ago the Government's subdelegate in Huelva, María José Rico, defended the "firm and determined commitment" to maintain "persistent pressure" against criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking and their logistical infrastructure to prevent them from "establishing themselves on the ground." In addition, he specified that the Security Forces and Corps have carried out multiple operations "successfully."
