A man was Tasered and arrested after attempting to use a knife on Spanish deputy prime minister Yolanda Díaz in Madrid, Spain, earlier this afternoon
A man has been arrested after attempting to murder the deputy prime minister of Spain and her bodyguards, as he pulled “two knives” from his bag.
While it was initially reported that Yolanda Díaz was in the street in the capital, Madrid, when the man, said to be Spanish, approached and headbutted one of her security team, police sources later confirmed the deputy Prime Minister was not caught up in the incident. With him momentarily distracted, the man is said to have pulled two knives from his backpack as he approached. He fled, still holding the weapons, when more police officers from the Centro Regional Police and the General Acquisition arrived on the scene – after throwing a few insults their way.
Several roads were closed in a bid to stop him and when he was cornered the man threatened to use the knife on himself. Before he was able to spill blood on Madrid’s streets, he was shot with a Tazer and finally arrested.
Police later confirmed his charges were assaulting a law enforcement officer and making serious threats. Police sources confirmed that Yolanda Díaz was not caught up in the incident, as she had been inside the cultural centre at the time, and only learned of it afterwards.
They described the man police arrested as a 45-year-old Spanish man who is believed to have mental health issues. One said: “The man concerned reacted violently when asked to identify himself as he approached the car of a bodyguard of Yolanda Díaz happened to be in.
“It was a random thing and no deliberately-intentioned attack on the vice president or her security. She was inside the cultural centre the incident happened outside [of] at the time and wasn’t involved.”