Man kills four in Spain shooting rampage

A 57-year-old man, who reportedly liked dressing up as a town sheriff, shot and killed four people today in northeastern Spain, police and local media said.

Armed with either a rifle or shotgun, according to various reports, he first shot a father and son in a bar in Olot before driving his car to a bank in town, where he killed two employees, a man and a woman.

He surrendered to local officers shortly afterward, police said.

“At about 9:00am [local time], Catalan police officers were alerted to the death of two people in an establishment,” the police said in a statement. “Half an hour later, they received information that a man responding to the same physical description entered a banking establishment and killed two employees.”

Soon after, “the man suspected of being responsible for the four deaths was arrested by local police.”

Police identified him only as “Pedro P.P,” a 57-year-old Spanish national, adding that they were still investigating possible motives for the shooting rampage, a spokesman said.

The suspect often walked around town in the evenings dressed as a sheriff with a fake pistol and badge, according to a witness quoted by Spanish agency Europa Press. The news agency quoted the unnamed witness, who claimed to have known the man since he was a child, as saying that the suspect was “strange” but previously not violent.

The first two victims, a 62-year-old man and his 35-year-old son, reportedly worked in construction. They were eating breakfast in a bar called La Cuina de l’Anna when the killer walked in and shot each of them once with a shotgun, agency and newspaper reports said.

The father and son were the owners of Construccions Tubert, which owed the suspect money, according to the online edition of the daily El Mundo, citing unnamed investigation sources.

After leaving the bar, the shooter reportedly drove to a branch of the bank Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo and shot two workers. According to El Mundo, one of the bank victims was the deputy director and the other an employee.

He surrendered to police after the killings, according to El Mundo, which said his employment situation was not yet clear.

Police went to the bank because the man’s car was double-parked outside, El Mundo said.

A neighbor reported the sound of gunshots, prompting the police officers to get out of the car. They then saw the killer leaving the building with a shotgun in his hands pointed to the ground, before surrendering when police announced their presence, the paper said.

According to El Mundo, one witness reportedly said to the man before the killings, “It’s so cold,” to which the man reportedly answered, “I will take the chill off.”

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