A 72-year-old man killed his 12- and 10-year-old grandchildren before turning the gun on himself on Sunday, May 19, near Granada, Spain. A gesture which was described as “compassionate homicide” and which greatly shocked the population.
A terrible news item that shakes Spain. On Sunday May 19, a 72-year-old man killed his grandchildren aged 10 and 12, before ending his life when the police entered his apartment in Huétor Tájar, near Granada. A tragedy which was followed by three days of mourning and an intimate ceremony on Thursday, May 23 in the morning.
This drama follows, in reality, another drama. On March 19, the septuagenarian was driving on the highway with his wife, daughter and grandchildren when he collapsed. Their vehicle crashed into a wall at the entrance to a tunnel, and the accident was fatal for both women. The old man, who was described by his neighbors as “an exemplary grandfather”, then found himself alone taking care of his two grandchildren.
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Since then, it seems that the man “was doing everything possible to take care of his grandchildren,” reports Telecinco. But the retiree, once considered “calm, very peaceful” and a cycling enthusiast, was consumed by guilt over the accident, went to the cemetery every day and appeared “suicidal” to his neighbors.
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An argument with his son-in-law
Sunday May 19, “El Pepe”, as he was known locally, had spent the day at home and in the evening, his son-in-law came to drop off the children. But around 9:45 p.m., neighbors reported an altercation at the grandfather’s home, saying they heard screaming coming from the apartment. According to “El Correo de Andalucía”, the old man reproached the father of the children for not having taken them to him sooner.
“El pepe” then allegedly pointed a gun at his stepson, who then fled while the grandfather barricaded himself in his home. Alerted by neighbors, the police went to the scene, but when they arrived, the grandfather fired two shots into the air from the window to warn that he was armed. The police then asked a Civil Guard negotiator to contact the man to try to calm the situation.
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Around 11 p.m., the eldest of the two children called his father to ask if he could stay and sleep at his grandfather’s house. A request to which the father did not dare to say no.
A death always mysterious
Throughout the night, the Civil Guard negotiator, for his part, did everything to maintain contact with the grandfather. But around 5 a.m., the man hung up, claiming he had to get the children ready to take them to school. At 8 a.m., worried about still not seeing any movement, the police finally decided to intervene and force the door of the accommodation.
At that moment, they heard an explosion: the grandfather had just killed himself from his bathroom. In the apartment, they discovered the two children in two separate bedrooms. One had a gunshot wound, the other appeared to have suffocated, but the causes of his death remain unclear. According to the first autopsy results, the child could have been poisoned with drugs. Several vomits were also found in different places in the accommodation.
One of the hypotheses considered by the police is “compassionate homicide”, that is to say that, having decided to kill himself, the grandfather would have preferred to kill his grandchildren to “protect them” , “prevent them from suffering further”. A widely criticized motive.
