Attempted homicides have doubled in Catalonia over the last decade.

Barcelona"Do you have a light?" The question was asked by a man looking for a cigarette on September 13th near the Sant Carles Market in Granollers. While searching for a lighter on the street, he ended up asking a man whose back was turned. The answer he got was negative. No, he didn't have a lighter on him. And that was the origin of a completely unexpected reaction: the man who wanted to smoke stabbed the man who had refused to light him, leaving him seriously injured.

In a second case, it all started with a simple slot machine. Two men were trying their luck on August 29th at a bar in Barcelona's Sant Martí district. A short while later, the owner of the establishment complained that they were making too much noise, and they acted rudely and started an argument that ended outside the premises. The plot twist came when one of the two men allegedly pulled out a gun and opened fire on the restaurateur. The victim was also seriously injured.

These two cases have two things in common. First, they have already been solved. The Mossos d'Esquadra arrested the alleged Granollers attacker in Bilbao, where he had fled. They also arrested the two alleged gunmen from Sant Martí. Second, they share the same crime for which they were arrested: all three will be tried for attempted homicide. A criminal offense that applies when one person attacks another with the intention of killing them, but the victim ends up surviving.

According to data from the Mossos d'Esquadra, to which ARA has had access, attempted homicides and murders have doubled in Catalonia in recent years. If ten years ago, in 2015, the Catalan police investigated 143 cases of this type, by 2024 there were already 309. Furthermore, this indicator has risen practically every year, including from 2023 to 2024, a period in which many crime figures, especially those related to crimes, were recorded.

This year, up to August, there have been 210 attempted robberies, and if the current rate continues, the figures recorded in 2024 are expected to be surpassed in 2025. A very high percentage of these crimes have taken place in the metropolitan police regions, which are also the most populated. 23.8% of attempted robberies in recent years have occurred in the Northern Metropolitan Region—Maresme, Vallès Oriental, Vallès Occidental, and the cities of Badalona, ​​Sant Adrià de Besòs, and Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona)—while 22.4% of the cases have been reported as such. 16.4% of attempted robberies occurred in the Southern Metropolitan Region, a region that includes the counties of Baix Llobregat, Garraf, Alt Penedès, and the city of Hospitalet de Llobregat. At the same time, police arrests for these incidents also increased, doubling at the same rate as the number of incidents detected.

The element of subjectivity

When analyzing this indicator, both Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) sources and academic experts on the subject warn that there is a key element to consider: subjectivity. In other words, it is the Mossos d'Esquadra first and then the courts who ultimately decide whether or not an attack involved the intention to end the life of another person. Often, the location of the wounds (whether they are in vital places or not) is crucial in making this decision. "There is a margin of relativity that is not present in a completed homicide," says Josep Maria Tamarit, professor of criminal law and criminology at the UOC and the UdL. However, the academic warns that this increase is not solely due to this subjectivity. He warns that the increase in attempted murders has also been noted in Spain, and not just in absolute figures: the rate of attempted murders per 100,000 inhabitants in Catalonia is 3.96, which, while low compared to the European region, has also doubled in recent years.

"Is there an increase in the intent to kill? We don't know. The wounds, however, are surely more serious," reflects Luis María Planchat, a forensic doctor, psychologist, and associate professor at UPF. Both insist that, while attempts are increasing, there is no exponential increase in homicides. which remain at around sixty per year and with a rate per inhabitant lower than many countries in the European environment.

More harmfulness

According to sources from the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police), attempted homicides are one of the indicators that explain certain trends they have detected on the streets in recent years. One of these is the proliferation of knives. In 2024, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) seized 11,453 knives, 24.5% more than in 2023 and 95% more than in 2020. The police have recently made significant efforts to remove knives from the streets, with macro-devices as part of the Daga plan, and also with other security measures. In fact, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) have established up to 236 security points across Catalonia due to a potential high presence of knives. According to police sources, these points coincide with nightlife areas and other critical locations, such as Sants station. However, this map is volatile. In Barcelona, there are a total of 82 identified points.

However, the police are also concerned that, despite preventive efforts, incidents involving knives are increasing: in 2023, there were an average of 250 in Catalonia, and in 2024 this average rose to 374. The same sources point out that, although people are now more armed, it is common for the crimes they face to be classified as attempted homicide.

Furthermore, Planchat warns that firearms are prohibited and the penalties for carrying them are high, leading to a greater presence of knives. A recent case exemplifies this: on August 14, the Mossos d'Esquadra arrested a 40-year-old man for injuring five people with a knife during a fight in Amposta, during the town's festival. The man was arrested for six offenses: five for bodily harm and one for attempted homicide. In all cases, the wounds were caused by a knife, but as in one case they were more serious and affected vital areas, the Mossos d'Esquadra considered it an attempted murder.

However, firearms seizures, especially those linked to drug trafficking, are also on the rise: in 2024, 1,172 were seized, 43% more than in 2020. In this sense, it must be taken into account that in many cases, the victim of a shooting directly becomes a victim of a shooting like San Martín.

Behind the increase in the proliferation of weapons and their associated violence, police sources also point to the deep-seated social problems that have been dragging on for years. In an interview a few months ago on RAC1, Mossos d'Esquadra superintendent Toni Rodríguez spoke of a "mimetic" effect in certain parts of the country that ends up leading to "violence as a resource." Sources linked to security in Catalonia also focus on certain neighborhoods, which have also had this mimetic effect and are now closer to mobilizing violently than before, whether against other people or the police.

Atmosphere and personality

Forensic pathologist Planchat also points to two elements that can lead a person toward violent behavior: personality and environment, both of which are always multiplied if drugs are involved. In the case of knives, which can end up leading to a more violent attack than if only bare hands are used, the environment is key. "Going prepared to a certain place with a knife means anticipating that you might run into trouble," he suggests. And in that decision, whose mimicry Mayor Toni Rodríguez spoke of, can be important: if no one is armed, you probably won't have one either. Finally, personality is what can ultimately lead a person to pull out a knife or not.

In analyzing the fact that attempted homicides are increasing but, on the other hand, completed homicides are not increasing exponentially, Tamarit adds another argument: he believes that emergency services have improved their efficiency in caring for the injured and arrive at the scene more quickly. In fact, the Mossos d'Esquadra's arrival time at incidents has decreased over the years: in 2021 it was 11.80 minutes, and this year it stands at 10.53.