A SPATE of gun violence that has rocked Spain in recent weeks shows no sign of slowing down after a tattoo artist was shot dead inside his own studio near Barcelona.
The latest killing took place at around 6.30pm on Friday evening at Clandestino Tattoo Studio in Badalona, just north of the Catalan capital.
According to police sources cited by local outlet Metropoli Abierta, two armed robbers entered the shop and opened fire on the victim, who is yet to be named.
The man was shot at least three times, including once to the head.
Investigators are considering whether the killing was a targeted attack, as both the victim and suspected gunmen are reportedly of Colombian origin.
The two suspects fled on foot and remain at large, with officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra working to track them down.
The shooting comes after a series of deadly gun attacks across Spain in recent days.
On October 9, a decomposing body was found floating in the sea near Zacatin Cove on the Costa Tropical in Granada province.
The unidentified man had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, with investigators treating the death as a suspected murder while keeping other possibilities open.
The discovery followed two fatal shootings in Almeria within three days.
Antonio Santiago was shot dead outside a recycling plant in the early hours of Wednesday as he walked towards his car after finishing a night shift.
Another man was killed in a suspected drug-related shooting on Friday morning, with one of two suspected gunmen arrested.
Police have not established whether the separate attacks are connected.
On October 7, Dr Alexander Aslani was shot multiple times in the head at his Cirumed Clinic.
Police Nacional believe the execution of the 57-year-old German national and creator of the ‘Supercharged Brazilian butt-lift’ may have been ordered by a disgruntled patient.
In September, a 47-year-old football hooligan turned narco kingpin was shot in the face while sitting outside a restaurant in Malaga’s Muelle Uno port.
Just days beforehand, a 20-year-old man named Nacho was shot dead in a popular tourist area of Malaga in a suspected case of mistaken identity linked to Swedish narco gangs.
In August, a suspected settling of scores left three people dead in Isla Cristina, Huelva.
The string of shootings prompted a top judge to slam Spain’s government over its failure to battle organised crime on the Costa del Sol, warning the area risks becoming the next ‘Acapulco, Marseille or Naples;.
Manuel Garcia-Castellon, who retired in 2024, told Diario Sur earlier this week that more than 165 criminal gangs are now active on the Costa del Sol, with several groups linked to a string of violent incidents in recent months.
The former National Court judge blamed the Spanish government for the escalation in gangland crime, saying officials were tackling incidents individually instead of taking down increasingly powerful criminal networks.
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