Alex Trelinski
A RETIRED Policia Nacional officer held his wife hostage in Alzira on Wednesday before shooting her dead and turning the gun on himself.
The deceased woman named as Raquel Lorente, 58, had gone to her former home with one of her children from a previous relationship, a 27-year-old man, to pick up some clothes after she had separated from her partner, Bartolome Berenguer, 70.
Berenguer ordered her son out of the property along with a worker who was there, and forced his partner to go into the garage.
Raquel’s son called the police and several patrols rushed to the villa.
As police waited for a trained negotiator to arrive, several neighbours reported hearing shots ‘like explosions’ going off.
Officers did not enter the villa until a drone with thermal imaging confirmed the presence of two people who were motionless.
The bodies were discovered in two different rooms, with five shots having been fired into Raquel, and a shotgun found next to Berenguer’s body.
There had been no complaints of abuse during the couple’s 12-year marriage, but family members said Raquel suffered from ‘humiliation’ in the later stages of their relationship and ‘was afraid’ of Berenguer.
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