(LibertySons.org) – Spanish police announced they arrested three suspects in the November 9 attack on Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca, 78, a former radiation physicist and conservative politician, as he walked home from a church mass in Madrid. Authorities called the attempted assassination a professional-style hit. Miraculously, Vidal-Quadras survived the incident and is recovering.
The Attack
Witnesses said that a man wearing a motorcycle helmet approached the former head of Spain’s People’s Party as he walked home from mass through the upscale Salamanca neighborhood around 1:30 p.m. on November 9. The helmeted man didn’t say anything before raising a gun to Vidal-Quadras’s head and shooting him in the face. Afterward, the gunman ran away to a waiting motorcycle piloted by an accomplice.
Reports indicate the bullet passed through the retired politician’s jaw and mouth, exiting his cheek when Vidal-Quadras turned his head at the last moment before the shooter fired. He stayed conscious as an ambulance responded. He reportedly required surgery to repair fractures on both sides of his jaw, but he is recovering.
Almost immediately, Vidal-Quadras cast suspicion for the attack on Iran. The Middle Eastern nation has classified the Spanish politician as “a terrorist” for his continued criticisms of the regime and its human rights record. From 2004 to 2007, Vidal-Quadras served as the first vice president of the European Parliament.
After the shooting, Vidal-Quadras released a statement to EU Parliamentarians attending a National Council of Resistance of Iran conference, accusing Iran of attacking him and reminding conferees of the regime’s typical methods, employed “to impose its malignant will” upon those who resist.
The Investigation
In addition to taking witness statements, detectives also found the burned remnants of the Yamaha motorcycle used in the crime. The bike’s destruction was incomplete, in a stroke of good luck, allowing authorities to obtain VIN information and track the motorbike back to a suspected murderer sought by the Parisian police. The information helped Spanish authorities locate three suspects, although the gunman remains at large.
Officers arrested a Spanish man in Malaga and another Spanish man and a British woman in Granada in connection with the assassination attempt. Sources reported that investigators had surveilled all three for several days before arresting them. Anonymous police sources have said the shooter may have come from North Africa or Morocco and may already have escaped the country.
Although authorities have ruled out some motives for the attack, including theft, revenge, personal animosity, or left-wing violence, they haven’t determined a reason yet. Terrorism remains a possibility, and police consider regimes in both Iran and Morocco suspects.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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