ARCHIVED - Murder on the seafront in Puerto de Mazarrón

A Moroccan national was shot three times in the chest on the terrace of a seafront café-bar

A man who was shot three times in the chest in Puerto de Mazarrón on Sunday evening has died from his injuries, escalating a bar terrace brawl into a murder case as the police hold the attacker in custody.

The 39-year-old victim, a north African named Jouanes Blal, is reported to have lost his battle to survive in the early hours of Monday morning in the intensive care unit of the Arrixaca hospital in El Palmar, a few kilometres south of the city of Murcia.

The police arrested a 52-year-old man at 22.30 in the evening, shortly after the three shots were fired at a bar-café in the Plaza del Muelle next to the new marina in Puerto de Mazarrón, with witnesses reporting that the two men had been involved in an argument a few minutes earlier (tables and beer bottles "flying" according to one witness).

Having felled the victim the attacker fled on foot, but was detained by police as he ran along the beach of Playa del Rihuete with the murder weapon still in his possession.

Subsequent information has emerged indicating that the attacker was formerly a member of the armed services and had been based at the Alcantarilla air base (home of the parachute squadron), although had left the military several years earlier.

Local media report that he suffered from psychological problems.

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