On La Gomera, police injured a young man with mental disorders: the family demands an investigation.
On the island of La Gomera, police wounded a 23-year-old man with mental disorders, who is suspected of attacking law enforcement officers, while the family denies the young man's aggression and accuses the police of using excessive force.
A 23-year-old man was wounded with a firearm last Monday on the island of La Gomera. According to his family, he was hit by four bullets after allegedly attacking a police officer and two guards.
The young man's relatives, through a lawyer, want to share their version of what happened in the town of San Sebastián de La Gomera.
The young man, who has mental health issues, was detained on suspicion of assaulting law enforcement officers. He is currently under guard in the hospital.
On Monday night, he underwent surgery in Tenerife for injuries he sustained, presumably from an employee of the Institute of the Armed Forces.
The parents of the young man, named Aitor, say they called the 1-1-2 service because he had been out of sorts for several days, wandering around and not taking his medication.
They explain that they wanted help in getting him to take his medication so that he wouldn't harm himself.
The relatives emphasize that he is "not a criminal, did not attack anyone, and did not bother anyone." They say that "he just needed to be given medication, and he was never dangerous to others" because "he is not aggressive, as stated in all his medical records."
Aitor's relatives claim that the police and guards did not act on their own initiative because the young man had not argued with anyone.
The family acknowledges that after the young man was given medication, he ran out into the street, and two police officers and two guards ran after him.
In a statement, Aitor's parents say that the help they requested to give their son medication ended with four bullets in his body.
Due to these injuries, he had to be transferred from the La Gomera hospital to the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria University Hospital in Tenerife.
They are very upset that no one has yet told them who exactly shot their son.
Aitor's relatives believe that the guards' shooting could have hit random passersby and even their colleagues because the bullets could have ricocheted.
According to the young man's relatives, the police officer and guard who participated in the detention left the La Gomera hospital just half an hour after arriving there, and they "showed no signs of bruising."
Aitor's parents also noted that when they were in the emergency room, no one asked them what had happened to file a report about the injuries, and only the law enforcement officers' version was recorded.