They are investigating if the murder of a young man in Nou Barris is linked to youth gangs

BarcelonaThe Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating the violent death of a young man early this morning in the Roquetes neighborhood, in the Nou Barris district of Barcelona. The first calls from witnesses arrived around two in the morning, warning that a young man was lying on the ground in the middle of Romaní street, approximately at number 12.

These witnesses described that a group of men, apparently also young, had assaulted the boy. All calls to 112 spoke of a group of between six and eight people who had attacked the victim with blows and also with bladed weapons. In fact, when medical services arrived, having attempted to resuscitate the victim without success, they found wounds compatible with those of a bladed weapon. The first resuscitation maneuvers were performed by Mossos d'Esquadra officers, who were the ones to arrive first.

The Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos has taken over the case, and no one involved has been arrested yet, as they reportedly fled in a group along Garigliano street, in the direction of Canyelles. The Mossos are investigating whether there is a revenge motive behind it, since the group of attackers allegedly assaulted the boy directly, taking advantage of the fact that he was alone. They are also investigating whether it is the result of a conflict between youth gangs, one of the main hypotheses on the table, as ARA has learned. In fact, Nou Barris is one of the city's districts with the highest presence of these new violent groups formed by young people, and the Catalan police have a specific plan to fight against them.

Conflictive street

The neighbors of the street –many have woken up with the arrival of emergency services in the middle of the night– lament that lately it has become a conflictive point. Above all, they link the problems with a bar that stays open late and that is precisely right in front of where the homicide was committed. They also relate the problems to groups of young people who fight among themselves and sometimes display bladed weapons on the street.