Babacar died from police gunfire after two knife attacks in Spain

Two knife attacks at "point-blank range" of a Basque police officer

A 46-year-old man died in Hondarribia, in Spain's Basque Country, after being shot by a local police officer. The municipal reconstruction leaves minimal room for interpretation: Babacar Welle lunged twice at officers with a knife, and the second time he charged straight at a female Ertzaintza (Basque regional police) officer. The weapon never touched her. The distance was measured at "a matter of centimetres".

That is what the report sent by the Hondarribia town council to the Police Oversight and Transparency Commission claims, and that is the ground on which the public debate is being fought: whether the shot was the only way out, or whether things were handled badly beforehand. The Senegalese community, shaken, is demonstrating again to demand justice.

What peine on 28 September on San Pedro street

The calls came in at 7:13 p.m. A barefoot man with a knife in his hand and a "threatening attitude", on a street crowded with people. Local Police and Ertzaintza knew him and tried to calm him down without success. As they cleared the area — some residents took shelter in bars — they escorted him to the end of San Pedro street while protected by a shield.

On Itsas Argi street, Babacar ran, stopped, turned and lunged at a female officer. He fell to the ground without reaching her. He got up. He confronted the officers again and struck one who was carrying a shield, breaking it in half. The officer from the first attack began striking him from behind with her baton. He then turned and ran after her with the knife, "intending to stab her", according to the document. A local police officer fired several shots. Resuscitation efforts were carried out. He died.

Why is the effectiveness of the police defence being questioned?

The report mentions that the officer used her baton in an attempt to subdue the man, and that is where one of the cracks in the case opens up. Some argue that such batons do not truly incapacitate, and that the sequence dragged on precisely because of that. The most commonly cited calculation is that at seven to ten metres a bladed weapon and a firearm are on equal footing; at "a matter of centimetres", that debate falls apart on its own.

What appears nowhere is the video. Much of the doubt rests on that absence: without footage, what is being debated is an administrative reconstruction.

Mental health, incivil record and the neighbourhood's account

The report describes Babacar as a Hondarribia resident of Senegalese origin suffering from mental health problems, with episodes of decompensation that could make his behaviour unpredictable. In parallel, claims circulate that he had a police record, while part of the neighbourhood described him as a peaceful person. Both things can be true at once, and that clash explains much of the noise.

The oversight commission and the open investigation

The Police Oversight Commission met after the incident and has peine an inquiry and report of its own accord. It has asked the town council for data on any possible court proceedings and copies of the internal investigation reports. It is the standard channel. Also the slowest.

The likely outcome is that the matter ends up in court and that the commission requests the internal reports one by one. If a video turns up, the focus of the debate will change completely; if it does not, the word of a municipal report will stand against the memory of a neighbour. And an officer who survived to tell the tale.