Anthony Piovesan
A man claiming to be the ‘author’ of a shock tweet that predicted a fatal machete attack in Algeciras in southern Spain hours before it actually happened has come forward.
Earlier on Thursday the Olive Press reported that police were investigating an Algeciras hate page on Twitter after it shockingly published a tweet which pre-empted the horrific machete attack that occurred in the city on Wednesday night.
The tweet was published on the Algeciras hate acc Twitter account (@Algecirasmierda) on Tuesday at 1.07pm, where the author anticipated the horrible events that were to follow 24 hours later.
“I think I’m going to go to the upper square and I’m going to hit someone with a machete, what do you think fellow Internet users?” the post read.
A man going by his second name, Francisco, contacted the Olive Press claiming to be the ‘author’ of the tweet.
“I just wanted to say that I feel very sorry for the victim’s family, and by no means I’m related to this case, I was just joking around,” he told the newspaper.
“I created the account just for fun, following the gimmick of accounts that hate random places like the ‘only in ohio’ memes and so forth.
“I hope this will solve some questions.”
Other Twitter users tagged Policia Nacional and Guardia Civil in the comments section of the original post, concerned about the threatening tweet.
One person died and at least one other injured after a man wielding a machete carried out attacks at two churches in the port city in the Cadiz province about 7pm on Wednesday night.
According to the interior ministry the suspect first entered the church of San Isidro in Algeciras where the priest was attacked and seriously injured.
The alleged attacker – a 25-year-old Moroccan according to other Spanish media reports – then stormed a second church where a verger was stabbed to death.
Police disarmed and arrested the suspect shortly after.
The crime is being investigated as an act of terror.
