Calahonda Costa del Sol: Brit shot dead in street in popular Spanish holiday resort as police hunt murderer

Police were hunting the killer, believed to have fled the crime scene in a getaway car later found torched nearby. The murder happened around 8.15pm on Monday evening (21 April) in the popular British holiday resort of Calahonda between Marbella and Fuengirola.

The murder happened in a street called Don Jose de Orbaneja Street, where there is a well-known tennis and padel tennis club called Club del Sol as well as a neighbouring holiday resort called Finca Naundrup. The victim was already dead by the time police and paramedics reached the scene.

Locals told cops they had heard between eight and ten shots being fired. The incident has been described as a gunfight.

Police put the area on lockdown after the shooting. A Cupra vehicle with foreign number plates was found burned out nearby shortly afterwards. Insiders said weapons had been found inside. Investigators are working on the theory it was the getaway car and was set on fire by the assassin and possible accomplices. Police have not yet officially confirmed the nationality of the victim, partly because the post-mortem has not taken place.

But well-placed sources close to the ongoing investigation described him last night as British and said they were working on the basis he was a 30-year-old man from Liverpool. The murder is being investigated by the Guardia Civil police force.