No weapons have been found in the house of the man accused of attacking a police station in Catalonia, police said.
The man has been identified in Spanish media reports as Abdelouahab Taib, 29, from Algeria.
He allegedly tried to attack officers with a knife on Monday, Aug. 20, at about 6 a.m. local time in Cornella, near Barcelona, in what police said was a terrorist act.
Taib reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” and other phrases in Arabic before lunging at a police officer with a large knife. He was then shot dead.
Catalan Police Chief Andreu Joan Martinez told reporters on Tuesday that the policewoman who shot the alleged attacker acted in a “proportionate, adequate” way, considering the “extremely serious situation” she faced.
Martinez praised the policewoman and the sergeant near her for their quick response to the threat.
“That explains why today we’re not speaking about greater loss of life,” Martinez said at a news conference in Barcelona.
‘An Isolated Event’
Catalan interior minister Miquel Buch said at a news conference that the attack was “an isolated event that targeted the police.”
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Taib had “spent a number of years” in Spain, and had married a Spanish woman who converted to Islam after meeting him. But their marriage had broken down after he confessed to his ex-wife he was gay, according to the newspaper.
After she said she planned to leave him about a year ago, he had “suicidal ideas,” his ex-wife said, and divorce papers were signed last week, according to reports. A witness statement suggests that he only married her to secure his residency papers.
He reportedly left a message to the woman which read, “I’m going, inshallah, to the Great Place up there.”
Sources from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, note that Taib had “personal motivations channeled from a religious point of view,” the Spanish news agency Europa Press reported.
Relatives of the attacker are considering suing the police for “negligent conduct” according to Spanish media.
A spokesman for the Catalan police force’s largest labor group, Valentin Anadon, said in an interview with Europa Press that the policewoman told the attacker “about 10 times” to put down his knife before she opened fire.
Police haven’t released any video footage from inside the police station during the attack.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
