Police officer killed and colleague gravely hurt by explosive device in Oviedo

What happened

Police officers were caught in an explosion on Tuesday morning, 10 November, in the Villafría district of Oviedo. According to the police union JUPOL, officers had gone to a home after an alert that a young woman had been shot and that her father was trying to take her to hospital. On arrival they found a backpack in the building entrance containing an explosive device, which then went off. A sub-inspector of the canine unit died, and a second officer from the TEDAX bomb disposal unit was seriously hurt. That officer had a leg amputated and, according to JUPOL, remains in a very serious condition.

Conflicting times and locations

Accounts of the timing differ. Televisión del Principado de Asturias (TPA) reported a shooting shortly after 7:00 and an explosion at 9:00 on Rafael Urrusti street, while EL PAÍS put the shooting at about 7:30 and the blast at 8:40. Eldiario.es placed the explosion shortly before 9:00 at entrance 2A of the same street. La Razón, citing El Comercio, said neighbours called the 112 emergency number after hearing three shots and an explosion shortly after 8:00 near a social housing block on Purita de la Riva street. The chart below lists each time as its outlet gave it.

Suspected motive and other casualties

Early information linked the incident to a dispute between neighbours, according to El Confidencial and EL PAÍS, both of which described the details as preliminary. EL PAÍS said the device was presumably set off by a man, but no outlet has named a suspect. EL PAÍS described the woman hurt by gunfire as not seriously injured at first. La Razón reported that she was taken to the Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (HUCA) and that the original alert concerned a man who had shot a 17-year-old girl. The reports do not establish whether the woman and the girl in the alert are the same person.

Police response and reactions

The Policía Nacional deployed a large operation and cordoned off the area, describing the event only as a serious incident. Municipal sources said the mayor of Oviedo, Alfredo Canteli, was heading to the scene to gather information because the situation was still confused. JUPOL said it was following the condition of the injured officer closely and expressed deep grief at the death of its colleague. In its statement, the union said:

“From the union we send all our strength and support to our colleague and his family at this extraordinarily difficult time.”

Open questions

Several basic facts remain unconfirmed in the reports reviewed. Sources have not yet established whether the shooting and the explosion were directly connected, or who set off the device. Most reports named Villafría as the location, while two early items placed the incident in Otero. Police have not provided an official account beyond the description of a serious incident, so the sequence and timings should be treated as provisional.