ALGECIRAS, Spain —
Police in Spain on Thursday raided the home of a man suspected of carrying out machete attacks at two churches that left one person dead and a priest seriously injured.
Officers searched the as-yet-unnamed suspect’s home to “determine the nature, terrorist or otherwise,” of the Wednesday night attacks in the city of Algeciras, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.
The detained man had no prior criminal record, and investigators do not think anyone else was involved, Grande-Marlaska said. The Interior Ministry said the suspect was still being questioned and had been under a deportation order since June last year.
The twin attacks by a single assailant have shaken the city near the southern tip of Spain, across a bay from Gibraltar. Witnesses said that during the second attack, a machete-wielding man jumped on the altar of a church before chasing a victim into a city square and inflicting mortal wounds.
The Interior Ministry said the man killed in the attack was a sacristan, an individual who prepares Mass, at the Church of Nuestra Señora de La Palma. A priest was wounded earlier at the Paris of San Isidro church.
Algeciras is a multicultural port city and the first point of arrival for many boats from North Africa, putting it at the center of debates on irregular migration. The violent acts at the churches may inflame social tensions stoked by the far-right in an election year, which is vying to win more local and national offices, as well as to form governing coalitions with the center-right Popular Party.
Algeciras’ municipal government identified the slain sacristan as Diego Valencia and the wounded priest as Antonio Rodríguez.
The parish priest for Nuestra Señora de La Palma, the Rev. Juan José Marina, told Spanish media that he believes he was the attacker’s intended target.
“In the same way that he sought out the priest at San Isidro and no one else, the same thing happened here,” Marina said. “If I had been here, I would be dead.”
A fellow sacristan who served with Valencia at the church, Manolo González, recounted the events of his colleague’s slaying. The attacker climbed on the altar, he said, and Valencia came out “and asked to know what was going on.”
The man, wielding a machete, then confronted Valencia, who fled outside to a public square. The attacker pursued him and then inflicted mortal wounds, González said.
The Islamic Commission of Spain, a body that represents Muslims in the country, condemned an “abominable, murderous and heartless act” that took place in “a sacred space for our Catholic brothers in Algeciras.”
Candles and flowers adorned the two small whitewashed churches Thursday, as residents nervously passed police vans waiting in the street. Flags were flown at half-staff in Algeciras, and a minute’s silence was held later in the day.