A tragedy, in the modern sense of the word, unfolded in Otero, a small village of barely 500 inhabitants within the province of Toledo (Castilla-La Mancha).

The shootings began a little before seven o’clock yesterday morning and ended in the arrest of a 45-year-old man, the death of a 17-year-old daughter and a seriously injured mother of 36.

They lived in a house belonging to the alleged murderer and the mother and daughter, both of Gypsy ethnicity, had recently come to live there.

Neighbours heard a loud argument that was taking place in the street outside the house and then several shots.

The Mayor herself, Ana Isabel Labrado Rico, was one of the witnesses to what had unfolded. She runs a small bar in the same street and was going about opening it up for the day.

The teenage daughter was killed instantly by a shot to the head and the mother received a bullet wound to the chest, leaving her fighting for her life.

“They were arguing in the street and moments later we heard shots. We ran out and asked, ‘Juan, what’s happened,’ and then we saw the mother on the ground, bleeding from her chest, pleading to be helped,” recounted the Mayor.

Very soon an ambulance had arrived and an medicalised helicopter took the mother to Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid. The body of the girl was removed a little later after being authorised by a coroner.

These three people had only been living in the village a short time and there were no reports made for abuse by the mother, although the alleged aggressor did have a record for gender violence against previous partners.

The man will have given a statement to the Guardia Civil and is being held in custody but the reasons given for the shooting have still not been made public.

(News: Otero, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha)