The Mossos are preparing a plan against youth gangs following the shootings in Hospitalet de Llobregat and the Pegaso park. Their main concern is the access of these young people to firearms.
The Mossos d'Esquadra are worried about youth gangs' access to firearms. Two recent incidents, one in Hospitalet de Llobregat and another in Barcelona, occurred in parks, and those arrested in both cases were young people linked to these groups.
In Hospitalet, on March 28, a confrontation between two groups ended in gunfire at the les Planes park. The outcome was a 28-year-old man dead and another injured. During a search of one of the detainees' homes, a firearm with ammunition was found.
On July 4, in the Pegaso park, in the Sant Andreu district, a 15-year-old boy was shot dead while with his younger brother. The three arrested in this case were also linked to youth gangs, although neither the gangs nor the conflicts matched those of the first incident.
According to consulted police sources, the phenomenon responds to the resurgence of violent groups formed by young boys after years of lower activity. It is mainly present in Barcelona and Hospitalet, but also in municipalities in the Vallès and in Cubelles.
Officers insist that the situation is not comparable to that of the 2000s, when Latin gangs like the Trinitarios or the Ñetas caused enormous alarm. Current gangs are smaller, more heterogeneous, and confront each other less frequently.
Nevertheless, the same sources warn that the risk lies in these structures consolidating, controlling certain neighbourhoods, and attracting vulnerable young people from disjointed families or newcomers. For now, according to the Mossos, this extreme has not been reached.
The main novelty is access to firearms. Police sources recall that, at the beginning of the century, it was much more difficult to obtain weapons, and gang members did not usually carry them regularly. Now, international organised crime is increasingly armed, with nearby armed conflicts facilitating the gun market, and this mimicry seems to be reaching youth gangs.
The general context is also unfavourable. During the first six months of 2026, shooting incidents in Catalonia have increased by 45%. There has been a shooting every two days, with six dead and seventeen injured. If we include cases where someone displayed a weapon without firing, the tally is one incident per day.
Serious fights between rival groups for territorial control are not being regularly recorded for now. However, investigations have detected that some groups arrange to fight through social media. The Mossos believe they prevented one of these fights in the Bellvitge area a few months ago.
The gangs showcase their aesthetics on Instagram and other networks, often linked to urban music, and some posts feature weapons. Another recent case is the homicide of a 55-year-old man in Nou Barris, beaten to death by a group linked to a gang, although the victim did not appear to belong to any gang.
The Mossos currently rule out that these groups have extensive international contacts, as was the case with Latin gangs in the 2000s. They consider it a local and embryonic phenomenon, although with a risk of expansion in some areas. They also do not see them as criminal organisations dedicated to financing themselves through theft or drug sales, although some of their members commit thefts individually.
Meanwhile, the Mossos continue to finalise the plan to tackle this phenomenon, with specific devices in Hospitalet and Barcelona, where action has already been taken for months in the areas most frequented by these groups, such as the Pegaso park.
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