The owner of the Serie 1 bar, at 179 avinguda de Montroig, in the Congrés neighborhood of Badalona, died on Thursday night as a result of several shots fired by an attacker with his face covered. His 18-year-old girlfriend was injured. Although the investigations are under wraps, the residents of the area said that it had been revenge for drug trafficking.
Shortly after eleven o'clock at night, a man got off the back of a motorcycle wearing a black full-face helmet that prevented his face from being seen. The attacker placed himself in the door of the bar and started shooting. In the establishment, usually very frequented by Dominicans, there were only three customers at the time.
The killer, without saying anything, started shooting at the owner, a 45-year-old man of Dominican origin, who died almost instantly. The author of the shots ran out and fled in the direction of the Gorg neighborhood with an accomplice who was waiting for him on a motorcycle a few meters away.
The shots, which according to the witnesses were between four and five, also wounded the deceased's daughter-in-law in the shoulder, who was taken to the Germans Trias hospital in Badalona. The customers ran to hide and one was able to go out into the street to warn.
The first to arrive were the neighbors. An acquaintance of the victim performed first aid to revive him, but the maneuvers were unsuccessful.
Precisely, the residents of the place have explained that the bar was a regular meeting point for people of Latin American origin that had already been the scene of several riots, violent and controversial incidents, the most dangerous of which relate to drug trafficking, despite the fact that the dead he had only been running the place for a year, even though he had a police record.
"They went against him directly", point out the witnesses of the incident, who also state that the girl was a collateral victim, since at the time of the shooting she was next to her father-in-law.
Several patrols of the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Urban Guard of Badalona arrived at the site and designed a perimeter operation to try to locate the aggressors. Precisely, in one of these checks, local police officers arrested a person who was riding a motorcycle in the direction of the road to Teià (Maresme).
However, subsequent investigations, questioning and expert tests, such as the gunpowder test to determine if he had used a firearm, were negative and the detainee was released.
According to some residents of the area, the incident could be the result of revenge, as the place is a common meeting point for small-time drug dealers and there are usually fights and threats.
