On Wednesday, Spain’s Interior Ministry announced that a man with a machete killed a sexton and injured a priest in two separate but related attacks in two Catholic churches in Algeciras, Spain.
Police apprehended the suspect and he is in custody. They are looking at the possibility of the incident being a terrorist attack.
The perpetrator entered the church of San Isidro around 7 p.m. He attacked the priest, Antonio Rodriguez, 74, with a machete, seriously injuring him. He had been celebrating the Holy Mass when the attack occurred. Rodriguez was brought to a hospital immediately and is in stable condition.
Sometime later, the attacker went to the Nuestra Senora de La Palma church, which is nearby. Initially, he defiled church property. Then he saw a potential victim, a sexton taking care of the church. He ran after him when he tried to escape, and viciously attacked him when he finally caught up with him at a public square. The victim, Diego Valencia, died after the attack.
Juan Jose Marina, the parish priest at Nuestra Senora de La Palma, speculated that the attacker thought the sexton was the priest. “Possibly, this death was meant for me and it found him instead,” he said.
The El Mundo newspaper reported that there were at least three other victims in the attack.
Algeciras Mayor Jose Ignacio Landaluce declared Thursday a day of mourning. A gathering was held outside the Nuestra Senora de La Palma church. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his support on Twitter.