Ex-mayor executed on highway - police hunt for killer

Valencia (Spain) - It could have been the work of professional killers: Arturo Torró (†62), the former mayor of the Spanish city of Gandia (Valencia), has been killed on a highway, according to consistent media reports!

According to the Spanish newspapers"El País" and"Las Provincias", Torró's body was discovered on Wednesday evening, February 19, near his stationary car on the side of a highway in the Valencian municipality of Xeresa. He had a gunshot wound to the chest. The engine of his car was still running.

According to the report, investigators believe that Torró stopped on the hard shoulder of the highway due to a flat tire. When he got out to check, unknown assailants executed him.

Authorities are investigating whether the perpetrators deliberately let air out of one of the vehicle's tires to force Torró to stop and get out.

As "Las Provincias" wrote, investigators suspect that the murderers may have followed Torró for several days beforehand and that this was a possible ambush. One motive for the crime could have been of an economic nature.

The ex-mayor and businessman recently demanded money from acquaintances, friends and former colleagues to pay off his debts. The businessman was mayor of Gandia from 2011 to 2015 and was involved in several scandals during his career.

In 2023, for example, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and banned from holding office for six and a half years for embezzling funds during his time in office.

According to the acting mayor of Gandia, Jose Manuel Prieto, the city council ordered three days of mourning following Torró's death.

"We share the pain of the family and friends of the former mayor of Gandia, Arturo Torró. My sincere condolences," he wrote in a post on Facebook.