British man fighting for life after he's shot multiple times in Costa Blanca car park

The Costa Blanca is Spain (Image: Getty)

A British man has cheated death after being shot at least three times in a Costa Blanca underground car park. Roughly 15 bullets were reportedly fired at his vehicle during the botched assassination attempt.

The 32-year-old victim was rushed to Torrevieja University Hospital and admitted to an intensive care ward, where he was still “serious” late yesterday. The alarm was raised around 10pm on Thursday night. The shooting took place in an underground garage in a residential area of Orihuela Costa, north of Torrevieja, called Lomas de Cabo Roig.

The man targeted has been identified locally as one of the two Brits arrested and still being investigated over an armed robbery last year at a cannabis club in nearby San Fulgencio.

He had been allowed to leave prison on bail around a fortnight ago nearly seven months after being jailed following his arrest in April when he allegedly tried to escape police by taking an elderly couple hostage in their own homes.

Civil Guard detectives are investigating the shooting as a probable settling of scores between rival gangs.
They have yet to make any official comment on the incident.

Police said of the arrests in April: “The Civil Guard has arrested two men belonging to a criminal gang and accused of an armed attack with submachine guns on a cannabis club in San Fulgencio.

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“After the hold-up they blackmailed the manager to try to gain control of the business and threatened to kill him if he reported them to police.

“The manager reported the violent attack on the club at the beginning of November last year, saying it had happened a few weeks earlier when several men took all the money inside the establishment at the time, some EUROS 600 plus EUROS 5,000 in cannabis products.

“After the robbery they demanded a payment of EUROS 25,000 plus 50 per cent of the earnings from that moment on.

“The victim said he initially feared the consequences of reporting the incident to police because his life had been threatened.

“To intimidate him the aggressors sent videos showing submachine guns and told him they would target him and his family if he didn’t play ball.

“After initial investigations police managed to identify two alleged members of the gang.

“They held a 33-year-old in San Fulgencio on November 6 last year and another, a man aged 32 who initially evaded arrest and was subsequently discovered to have gone into hiding abroad and changed his name, in Orihuela Costa on April 8.

“The second individual resisted arrest and managed to enter the home of an elderly couple he took hostage during his attempts to escape.

“He was remanded to prison on April 11 while still being investigated for alleged extortion, robbery, unlawful detention, resisting arrest and membership of a criminal gang.”

Police also revealed at the time firearms and pink cocaine had been discovered during two searches carried out by police, one of an old cannabis club believed to be the place where the earlier armed robbery occurred.

The Brit shot on Thursday night, identified locally only partially as Peter F although he is said to have previously used the name Sonny, was hit in the arm, leg and chest.

He was also to raise the alarm by alerting a neighbour after the gunman fled the scene.

In May an Irishman was critically injured after being shot in the head close to a nearby shopping centre called La Zenia Boulevard. Two suspects were arrested a fortnight later on suspicion of the attempted murder.

In June a second 29-year-old Irishman was stabbed in the neck from behind as he was having a pee near the same shopping centre and left needing an emergency life-saving operation.

A 58-year-old Irishman was arrested over the knife attack in July.

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