2015 Barcelona school attack

Lore & Background

The attack took place on the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre. The student began by shooting a Spanish-language teacher in the face and the teacher's daughter in the leg with a modified crossbow using homemade projectiles. Substitute teacher Abel Martínez Oliva confronted the student and was fatally stabbed or slashed in the chest with the machete. The student then stabbed or slashed another student in the leg before being confronted by physical education teacher David Jurado Fernández. Jurado found the student in a second-floor classroom with a knife, crossbow, backpack, and a beer bottle being manipulated into a Molotov cocktail. Jurado told the student he was hurting more people than he realized, asked to see the backpack, and the student complied before collapsing in tears into Jurado's arms. Jurado sat with the student until police arrived.

Reader's Guide

The attack is significant as the first fatal school attack in Spain, occurring on the anniversary of the Columbine massacre. The perpetrator, aged 13, was exempt from criminal responsibility under Spanish law because he was under 14. Civil responsibility fell to the Barcelona Education Consortium, which compensated victims with one million euros. The teacher David Jurado later wrote a privately shared book about the incident. The perpetrator was diagnosed with a psychotic break and admitted to Sant Joan de Déu hospital. The attack prompted discussion of school safety and mental health in Spain, though no broader legislative changes are noted in the source. The teacher Abel Martínez Oliva was posthumously awarded the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise for protecting students.

Did You Know?

• The attack occurred on 20 April, the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.
• The perpetrator was 13 years old and exempt from criminal responsibility under Spanish law.
• Teacher David Jurado talked the student into surrendering and sat with him until police arrived.