Spanish police stop gas truck speeding against traffic
MADRID — Police in Barcelona fired gunshots Tuesday to stop a man who stole a butane gas truck and drove it at high speed against traffic on a city highway, ramming several cars along the way, a police spokeswoman said. Authorities ruled out terrorism as a motive.
Spain’s interior minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, said in a tweet that the man, a Swedish citizen, has a history of psychiatric conditions and added that “it has not been any terrorist act.”
The 32-year-old suspect was arrested after police fired at the truck’s wheels to stop it, regional police chief Joan Carles Molinero told reporters. The suspect is being questioned at a regional hospital where he was sent for a medical checkup, Molinero said.
A Brazilian woman suffered a leg injury when she was hit by one of several butane gas tanks that fell off the truck as the man tried to escape by speeding down a highway near the northeastern Spanish city’s famed harbour. The incident took place around 11 a.m. Tuesday.