The police in southern Spain say the guy who killed a church caretaker and wounded a priest was already scheduled for deportation.
On Wednesday, a guy in Algeciras, Spain, armed with a machete, entered two churches.
A Moroccan male, age 25, was disarmed and taken into custody shortly after.
The suspect, who presumably acted alone, was scheduled to be sent to Madrid, the nation’s capital, where he would face terrorist accusations in front of the country’s highest court.
The defendant, who was here illegally, was scheduled to be deported in June, according to the officials. He was not under surveillance in Spain or any of the other countries that are part of the alliance, and he did not have any criminal or terrorist convictions.
But Gibraltar’s officials said he was booted off the island in 2019 due to immigration violations.
Many people who cross the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco pass through Algeciras.
After the death of verger Diego Valencia at the Nuestra Senora de La Palma church, hundreds of people stood in silence for one minute. Many people wept as they remembered him and flowers and candles were placed down.
The Interior Ministry claims that the victim made it out of the chapel but was immediately attacked again, where he succumbed to his wounds.
One Algeciras resident remarked of Mr. Valencia, “He was a very dear guy in Algeciras.”
Antonio Rodriguez, the parish priest of San Isidro, was hurt in a recent attack, although reports indicate that his health has stabilized following surgery.
On Twitter, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his “deepest sympathies” to the family of the verger who was killed in the incident.
Muslims in Algeciras have spoken out against the incident, calling it a “brutal and wicked attack.”