Barcelona recorded nine homicides in the first half of 2026, up from five during the same period in 2025, an increase of 80%, according to reporting published on 20 July. Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's regional police force, have linked recent fatal shootings in the city to organised crime and drug trafficking.

For residents and people who work or travel through central Barcelona, the cases include a daytime shooting on Carrer de Balmes, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Police investigations into the killings and shootings are ongoing.

The Ministry of the Interior's Crime Statistics Portal publishes quarterly crime-balance data for people wishing to check official recorded-crime figures.

Mossos identify organised crime as a key concern

In June, Mossos said six people had been shot dead in Catalonia in the first half of 2026, compared with eight during the whole of 2025. The regional police also recorded 18 people injured by gunfire by June, against 28 in the previous full year.

"They are murders linked to structures of organised crime," Mossos superintendent Toni Rodríguez said at a meeting with Catalonia's Interior Minister Núria Parlon, police director Josep Lluís Trapero and chief commissioner Miquel Esquius.

Police analysts identified four groups that obtain firearms: people using them in robberies, less sophisticated criminal groups involved in several offences, people with unstable lifestyles who decide to arm themselves, and drug traffickers. Mossos described the latter group as their main concern.

Interior seeks tougher penalties for firearms and cannabis offences

The Catalan Interior Department has proposed increasing the maximum penalty for possessing a firearm to five years in prison. The cited current range is one to two years.

It also wants trafficking in and cultivating cannabis to be punishable by up to nine years in prison, rather than the current one-to-three-year range cited by the department.

  • In 2025, police recorded 93 shootings and eight deaths by gunfire.
  • During the first half of 2026, police recorded 24 shootings, despite the increase in people killed and injured by gunfire.
  • Authorities reported an increase in the number of handguns.

The proposed sentencing changes would require legal action beyond the police investigation of individual cases.

Primary sources: Barcelona City Council, transparencia.gob.es, Ramon. Reported by Source Text Link, Web Portal Estadístico, Arturo Puente, Alfonso L. Congostrina, Rebeca Carranco, estadisticasdecriminalidad.ses.mir.es, Cesc Maideu, europapress.es, larazon.es, elpais.com, barna.news, russpain.com.