The first session of the trial against a civil guard for the death of Diego Martínez-Conde, a 26-year-old young man suffering from schizophrenia, ended this Tuesday with the testimony of a resident of Manzanares el Real who claimed to have been witness how officers shot the victim from behind as she fled and refused to stop. Previously, the civil guard accused of reckless homicide had told a very different version: Diego had attacked him with two small knives and he had no choice but to shoot him twice in the legs to save his life. life.
The family of the victim, Diego Martínez-Conde, requests four years in prison against the officer who fired the two shots for reckless homicide, while the prosecution reduces its request to a fine since it considers that the agent did not commit gross negligence. On behalf of the accused civil guard, the prosecution requests acquittal.
According to his parents, Diego was a boy with artistic interests, gifted in drawing, but a serious illness that he overcame as a teenager, with the loss of a testicle, gave him a complex that led to episodes of schizophrenia. For seasons, he denied his illness and refused to take medication.
The events took place early in the morning of September 20, 2020. Diego spent the summer months with friends in Manzanares el Real and a little before four in the morning he was in the town square upset, ensuring that the police I wanted to kill. Initially, two civil guards from a neighboring town came to complete a staff of 12 agents.
The accused, a civil guard aged 25 at the time of the events, explained that he and his companions were the first to arrive, but that due to Diego’s attitude, brandishing two small knives and threatening them, they decided to go to the car and wait for reinforcements. When these reinforcements arrived, there were a total of twelve agents led by a sergeant.
Diego would not have listened to the words of the sergeant who tried to calm him and, frightened by his obsession with wanting to kill him, he fled into the arch that the guards formed around him. While fleeing, he turned into an alley to brandish the knives in front of the accused. There are no more witnesses to this than another officer, who will testify at future hearings.
A few meters later, the victim turned around again for no apparent reason and attacked the civil guard who was sitting on the bench, again according to his testimony. When he was almost on top of him, the guard shot him in the legs, hitting him twice. Diego would later bleed to death.
“Once again, for no reason, he turns around, surprises us more closely [al sargento y al acusado]and at that moment I see that the sergeant fires several shots into the air. This person turns around, looks at me and lunges at me. “I pulled out the gun and fired two shots,” the accused described.
The Civil Guard told the court that he never realized he was in front of a person with mental health problems, even though Diego had called, showed his cell phone, said the police wanted him kill and appeared agitated and nervous.
“He didn’t even have time to stop”
The penultimate witness of the day was a resident of Manzanares who explained that, from his balcony, he had “a panoramic view” of what had happened. The young witness says he was watching a series with a friend in his room when he heard voices. When he went out onto the terrace, he saw Diego running, the civil guards shouting “stop” and “silence”.
“The boy didn’t even have time to stop,” said a Manzanares resident who witnessed the scene. “The boy had his back turned. He didn’t have time to turn around before they shot,” he said. “As the shots came, he stopped, jumped to the side twice and collapsed to the ground. ground”, he added. According to the witness, there were three or four civil guards who fired and all in the direction of where Diego was.
This version is absolutely contrary to the version of the civil guards according to which the sergeant fired in the air and the accused civil guard only shot his legs and because Diego attacked him with the knives. Forensic and ballistic reports indicate the shots were fired between 1.5 and 2.5 meters and had a lateral trajectory.
The witness later reported that the civil guards placed the car over part of Diego’s body, preventing him from escaping. According to the accused agent, Diego, even on the ground, resisted the agents who disarmed him. According to the witness, more than ten minutes passed before they decided to take the car away from him and begin treating him. The Civil Guard, however, assures that it immediately applied a tourniquet. Then help and an ambulance arrived.
The witness says that the civil guards insulted Diego once he was on the ground and injured and that two of them walked away and that, near his terrace, one repeated to the other: “Why did you shoot? Why did you shoot? Meanwhile, the others began to smoke. This dialogue was also witnessed by the witness’s sister, who also testified at this Tuesday’s hearing.
