The National Police arrested a 30-year-old man on 1st August for entering a gym in Tenerife, where he was a member, with a replica handgun, pointing it at staff and threatening to take his own life. The detainee was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation and has since been placed at the disposal of the judiciary.
The police have detailed in a statement how the events unfolded. It was last Friday, at around 8:20 am, when the 091 emergency service received a call alerting them that a man was inside the gym pointing a weapon at his head.
The alarm was raised by a cleaning staff member who had witnessed the individual displaying a firearm and expressing a desire to speak to a police officer.
Moments earlier, this person, a regular user of the sports centre, had received a phone call that unsettled him. He began shouting in the middle of the training room, creating a climate of tension among the other users. Due to his behaviour, one of the trainers asked him to lower his tone, which prompted an “even more aggressive” reaction, as detailed by the National Police in their report.
Instantly afterwards, the individual displayed the weapon to the cleaner and then approached the trainer, threatening to hit him and shoot him.
At that moment, the trainer seized an opportunity when the assailant lost his balance while hitting a door, managed to escape to the manager’s office for refuge; however, the assailant followed him into the office to force him to place his hands on his neck, pointing the gun at his head and demanding that he kneel.
The perpetrator eventually barricaded himself in the changing rooms, still in possession of the weapon, where he was found by officers pointing it at his temple. At that time, the National Police had already established a security perimeter and evacuated the gym.
One of the officers managed to engage in conversation with the individual, who was “visibly nervous and affected by personal issues”. After several minutes of dialogue, the man agreed to relinquish the weapon voluntarily.
The firearm turned out to be a replica, and the detainee was taken to a medical centre for evaluation. He was subsequently placed at the disposal of the judiciary as the presumed author of a serious threat.
