Man gunned down in Costa Del Sol weeks before Scot gang murders named

Daily Record

6 hours ago

The brutal street shooting happened at around 8.15pm on Easter Monday in the popular British holiday resort of Calahonda, between Marbella and Fuengirola in Spain.
A man who was gunned down in a gangland execution on the Costa Del Sol weeks before Scots hoods were killed there has been named for the first time.
The brutal street shooting happened at around 8.15pm on Easter Monday in the popular British holiday resort of Calahonda, between Marbella and Fuengirola in Spain.
The 32-year-old was reportedly shot dead after leaving a football match at the Finca Naundrup complex. Now, the Liverpool ECHO has confirmed the man to be Steven Gray from Merseyside.
The gun slaying took place just weeks before Lyons crimelord's Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan were assassinated in Monaghan's pub, owned by Ross Monaghan, in Fuengirola on Saturday, May 31.
The brutal double-murder of the Glasgow hoods coupled with the gunning down of Mr Gray has sparked fears of rising gun crime in the Costa Del Sol. The Times reported that there have been eight shootings in two months on the Spanish coast
The Liverpool newspaper previously told how Mr Gray was approached after leaving a football match at the sport facility. Locals told police they heard between eight and 10 shots being fired with the incident described as a"gun fight".
One local source previously said the victim from Liverpool"fired one shot back".
Spanish cops locked down the area following the fatal shooting. Local newspaper Sur reported that a short time later a Seat Cupra, with foreign number plates, was found dumped and set ablaze a short distance from the crime scene.
The same newspaper reported that police "found two pistols inside the car, which were allegedly the weapons used in the murder" - and officers were searching for"two hooded killers".
Following the shooting, Pedro Fernández, the government delegate in Andalusia, told the press that police officers were "working on inspecting the surrounding cameras to see if they can provide any identification regarding the person who fired these shots".
Since the shooting, no information has been released by the police. The investigation is currently being led by the Guardia Civil. The ECHO has approached the Guardia Civil for more information on multiple occasions.
A spokesperson for the police force previously said it doesn't release information to the media while an investigation is ongoing. However, the ECHO understands from a source that this is not unusual for Spanish police
A source told the ECHO that the shooting is believed to be linked to organised crime. However, they said no one from the expat community has been talking about the incident - and added: "There is a basic problem in the area that the Spanish aren't that bothered about expat violence until they have to be.
"Perhaps more prescient [is] that the police authorities in the area are under-resourced." A spokesperson for the Foreign Office previously said it was "supporting the family of a British man who has died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities".
The Costa del Sol - and the police's response to targeting organised crime - has recently come under the spotlight following a spate of shootings. The Times reported that there have been eight shootings in two months on the Spanish coast.
According to local reports, a man fired several shots on a Malaga street in early April, injuring four people - including three who were hit by stray bullets. A different person was also shot in the leg following a confrontation between two families just days later - and then on May 31, Lyons Jnr,43 and Monaghan, 46, were shot dead in Fuengirola after watching the Champions League final.
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
The Record reported on Saturday that Michael Terrance Riley, 44, was arrested by Merseyside Police on Friday evening in connection with the shooting.
Riley was detained on an international arrest warrant, which is a request issued by a judicial authority in one country to another to help locate someone for extradition. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court for a brief hearing to start the extradition proceedings to Spain. He will next appear before the same court on June 19.
‌
The investigation into the deaths of Lyons Jnr and Monaghan, who are linked to a crime group from the west of Scotland, is being led by a Spanish elite anti-drug and organised crime unit. Scottish police insisted in the days after the shooting that there was no information to suggest the shootings were in any way linked to an ongoing gang feud with another crime family.
However, Spanish police told a press conference today that the suspected gunman was a member of the rival Daniel crime clan. A senior officer also revealed that the arrest of Riley was made as detectives discovered the alleged gunman was about to flee his UK bolthole for a "paradise island tax haven".
The ECHO reports that it is not currently aware of any connection between the deaths of Mr Gray and Lyons Jnr and Monaghan.
Southern Spain's Costa del Sol is colloquially referred to as the "Costa del Crime" due to the high number of organised crime groups who use its shores as a centre of operations. The coastal area, which was historically popular due to lax extradition laws, now sees British and Irish gangs battling with cartels from South America and Europe to gain a foothold.
The recent shootings has resulted in local politicians asking for more help to tackle the firearms threat. The BBC reported that the mayor of Fuengirola said: "We live in a world and at a time where crime knows no borders" and asked for specialised police officers to be deployed to the area.