A pregnant woman and her child have been killed in a triple shooting after a pair of men opened fire in ‘a settling of scores’ at a Spanish holiday resort.
The two masked men stormed in on motorbikes last night aiming at several members of the same family, who were staying in the Costa de la Luz region near Spain’s southern border with Portugal.
Police have said early investigations suggest the shooting could have been a revenge attack between members of two rival drug-trafficking gangs.
The mother, 39, who was eight months pregnant, her teenage son, 16, and the child’s maternal grandmother, 62, all died in the horrific shooting, which took place at the El Rocio resort.
Authorities confirmed two more people were caught in the crossfire, with one of them rushed to hospital ‘in serious condition’.
The men, who are thought to be part of a rival gang, fled the scene on their bikes which were later found abandoned and set alight, local reports say.
No arrests have yet taken place but the fatal incident has been linked to a previous shooting that took place in Huelva in September 2024 which left one person dead and two injured.
The three people killed last night are the sister, mother and nephew of a man arrested over the 2024 shooting, according to local reports.
A pregnant woman and her child have been killed in a triple shooting after a pair of men opened fire at a Spanish holiday resort
The mother, her young son and his maternal grandmother all died at the horrific scene
He was held in Gijon in northern Spain after going on the run and remanded in custody pending a trial.
Several relatives of the suspect, thought to include those killed last night, are said to have moved to Isla Cristina from the provincial capital following the earlier crime.
The Civil Guard is leading the ongoing investigation into the fatal shootings.
The victims’ bodies were left lying on the street until a judge arrived to authorise their transfer to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the provincial capital Huelva so autopsies can take place.
Grisly photos said to have been taken by locals and holidaymakers before they were removed have started to appear on social media.
Isla Cristina, one of southern Spain’s most important fishing ports, is known for its fine sand beaches. The nearest airports are Faro on the Portuguese Algarve which is just 40 miles away and Seville which is 80 miles away.
A Civil Guard spokesman said: ‘Around 10pm yesterday in the town of Isla Cristina, the occupants of a motorcycle opened fire on several people who were in a public area, resulting in three people dead and two injured, one of them in serious condition.
‘The initial lines of investigation indicate that it could be a settling of scores between members of different clans, although no hypothesis has been ruled out.
‘The Guardia Civil has activated a large-scale security and search operation to locate the alleged perpetrators. Any information can be provided confidentially.’
Police confirmed a secrecy order had been placed over the case by a judge.
A secrecy order is a tool commonly used in Spain to protect judicial probes especially in their infancy, and limits the amount of information civil servants can give out.
