An 11-year-old boy was stabbed to death today while playing soccer with his peers, attacked with a sharp object by a man who broke into a sports center in Mocejòn, a small town in the province of Toledo, in Castile-La Mancha. The Guardia Civil, which is investigating the incident, reported the Efe agency. The boy was playing soccer on the field of the ‘Angel Tardìò sports center when, at 9:45 this morning, the killer, with his face covered by a handkerchief, headed toward a group of people on the edge of the field and, after attacking the minor, ran away, according to some witnesses reported by the newspaper Abc. When the emergency services arrived on the scene, the 10-year-old boy was already in cardiac arrest and attempts to revive him were useless. According to Abc, the attacker fled in an old gray Ford Mondeo, while a dozen Civil Guard patrols arrived on the scene, setting up checkpoints in the area to try to locate the fugitive. The reasons for the attack are still unknown, while investigators are not ruling out any hypothesis, according to investigative sources cited by the Europa Press agency. The child’s family is in shock, and is currently being assisted by psychological support services.
The force has deployed a vast search operation involving about ten patrols with the judicial police and the Toledo command intelligence group to locate the perpetrator of the attack, who fled aboard a gray Ford Mondeo. The Toledo Court has opened an investigation into the incident that has been subjected to investigative secrecy. The very young victim was playing soccer with other children at 9:45 when a person with his face covered by a handkerchief attempted to attack the minors with a knife, according to witnesses cited by Rtve. “The children were playing soccer, when a person with his face covered approached, many ran away and he hit the little boy,” a witness reported to public television. “We hope that the perpetrator of this atrocious attack is arrested as soon as possible,” he added. “We knew the child. He is from a family in the village, not a tourist who came to spend the holidays. The child also had a little sister, just a little older,” other residents reported by El Mundo online. In the small town of Moceión, with just 5,000 inhabitants 15 km north of Toledo, the victim’s family is known to everyone, according to one of the witnesses cited: “Someone more or less has had dealings with them, with the children who play on the soccer team or with the mother, whose family has run one of the two bakeries in the town since the time of their grandparents.” The 11-year-old boy was attacked with numerous stab wounds, which caused him to go into cardiac arrest. The emergency services, with an ambulance equipped with a resuscitation unit and a medical helicopter to take the child to the hospital, could only confirm his death. The sports center where the attack took place is located outside the town center, next to the municipal swimming pool and the motocross circuit. The entire town is shocked by what happened. “It is with great sadness that I received the news of the murder of a minor in Mocejón (Toledo), attacked with a sharp object,” reported the prefect of Castilla La Mancha, Milagros Tolón, in a message on X in which she reports on the extensive effort deployed by the Civil Guard in the search for the assailant and conveys “all my affection to the victim’s family and friends, as well as to the residents of Modejón.” A message of condolence was also posted on X by the governor of Castilla La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, who said he was “shaken by the events that occurred in Modejón this morning.” “I express my condolences and closeness to the minor’s family and also the hope that the perpetrator of the crime will be arrested and brought to justice as soon as possible,” Garcia-Page reported.