The knifeman who stabbed a woman to death in a Barcelona suburb on Saturday shouted ‘Allah’ before targeting his young victim, eyewitnesses claimed.
Videos showed the killer prowling the street and brandishing the weapon he used to attack the woman.
Spanish police have refused to confirm the suspect’s nationality but he has been described locally as Moroccan.
Spanish media outlets El Mundo and Telecinco, citing witnesses who saw him acting ‘nervously’ before the stabbing, said he had yelled out the name of Allah before the attack.
Jose Luis, a 58-year-old man who was injured after confronting the knifeman during the fatal stabbing, said: ‘I heard some shouting and ran up some steps to the area where the noise was coming from.
‘I saw what appeared to be the man going for his victim and yelled at him.
‘He turned round and came towards me and tried to stab me at the top of the stairs but didn’t manage to.
‘That’s when I tried to hit him. He didn’t like that and picked up some stones from the ground. He threw and hit me with them in the arm, and then attempted to stab me three or four times again,’ Luis said.