Cop who shot 4 jihadis was elite soldier

A HERO policeman who shot dead four terrorists was a former soldier and expert marksman, it emerged last night.

He had served with the Legion – a crack Spanish infantry unit and rapid reaction force – nicknamed the ‘Bridegrooms of Death’.

Now part of the Catalan police force the Mossos d’Esquadra, he drew on his military experience when he came face to face with five terrorists in Cambrils on Friday night, killing four in a matter of seconds. The policeman was in a patrol car when a black Audi A3 smashed into pedestrians. The Audi then crashed into the police car and overturned before the men inside staggered out.

The officer – who had chosen to work on his day off because of the increased terror threat – calmly fired a succession of shots at the five jihadis. Four were killed instantly while a fifth ran off along the beach, stabbing to death a 61-year-old woman, before he too was killed.

Yesterday the officer was thanked by the president of the regional government in Catalonia, who visited the police station in Cambrils. The officer has not been named for his own protection but was described by one colleague as ‘very quiet, not the Rambo prototype of an elite officer’.