Emilio and Antonio Izquierdo

Case overview

Emilio Izquierdo and Antonio Izquierdo carried out a mass murder known as the Puerto Hurraco massacre in Puerto Hurraco, a village in Benquerencia de la Serena municipality in the Province of Badajoz, Spain, on August 26, 1990. The brothers fired at people in the streets with two shotguns, killing nine people and wounding at least six others. After the shootings, the two brothers fled and were arrested a couple of hours later.

Timeline

• 1961 — Jeronimo Izquierdo stabbed to death a neighbour, Amadeo Cabanillas, blaming him for attempting to take over some Izquierdo family land.
• 1983 — Their mother died in a fire at her home.
• 1984 — Jeronimo Izquierdo was freed; he immediately stabbed and seriously wounded Antonio Cabanillas.
• August 26, 1990 — Antonio and Emilio Izquierdo fired at people in the streets of Puerto Hurraco with two shotguns, killing nine and wounding at least six others.
• January 25, 1994 — Emilio and Antonio Izquierdo were sentenced to 684 years in prison.
• December 13, 2006 — Emilio died in prison.
• April 25, 2010 — Antonio hanged himself with knotted bed sheets in his prison cell.

Background

The massacre followed a decades-old land dispute between the Izquierdo family and their neighbours in the 140-person hamlet of Puerto Hurraco, the Cabanillas. The dispute developed into a feud after the brothers’ mother died in a suspicious fire at her home. The fire’s cause was never determined, but the brothers blamed the Cabanillas family.

A fatal stabbing occurred earlier in 1961. Jeronimo Izquierdo stabbed to death Amadeo Cabanillas, blaming him for attempting to take over some Izquierdo family land. Jeronimo Izquierdo was jailed and was freed in 1984, but immediately stabbed and seriously wounded Antonio Cabanillas.

The offence

On August 26, 1990, Antonio Izquierdo and Emilio Izquierdo took their shotguns and fired at people in the streets of Puerto Hurraco. The shootings occurred in the village’s main street area, described as the village’s only artery, Carrera de Puerto Hurraco. They shot sisters Antonia Cabanillas and Encarna Cabanillas, and also targeted elderly villagers sitting on folding chairs along the street. They wounded multiple people, including a group who were drinking outside the village bar. The brothers were said to have shot a man who had taken some wounded victims to safety and returned, and they badly wounded two local Guardia Civil policemen as the policemen drove into the village to investigate.

In court, the older brother, Emilio, said:

"We'd gone out to shoot pigeons. I don't remember the rest, just what people have told me."

His brother insisted:

"I shot only in the air, to warn people off. If I'd known I was going to a massacre, I'd have stayed home."

The prosecution described the killings as premeditated and planned by the brothers since their mother’s death, driven by the feud. It was said that the brothers had been driven to the village by a sister before lurking behind an archway off the main street.

Victims

The brothers killed nine people:

• Reinaldo Benítez Romero, 62
• Manuel Cabanillas Carrillo, 55
• Antonia Cabanillas Rivero, 14
• Encarnación Cabanillas Rivero, 12
• Isabel Carrillo, described as the sister of Antonia Cabanillas; Isabel Carrillo Dávila, 70
• Andrés Ojeda Gallardo, 36, described as the son-in-law of Isabel Carrillo
• Araceli Murillo Romero, 60
• Antonia Murillo Fernández, 58
• José Penco Rosales, 43

Wounded

Among those wounded were:

• Guillermo Ojeda Sánchez, 6
• Antonio Cabanillas Benítez, 24
• Juan Antonio Fernández Trejo, 31
• Ángela Sánchez Murillo, 42
• Felicitas Benítez Romero, 59
• Vicenta Izquierdo Sánchez
• Isabel Cabanillas
• Manuel Calero Márquez

Investigation and arrest

After the shootings, the two brothers fled. They were arrested a couple of hours later.

Trial

The defence did not dispute the charges. The defence argued that the men were mentally unstable through extreme paranoia, driven by a single thought—revenge—since their mother had died in a fire in 1983. The defence argued that they should be placed in a mental institution.

In sentencing proceedings, the prosecution asked for 360 years each for Emilio and Antonio.

Sentencing

On January 25, 1994, Emilio Izquierdo and Antonio Izquierdo were each sentenced to 684 years in prison.

It was noted that there was no death penalty in Spain and that, in practice, no one could serve more than 30 years in a Spanish jail. It was also noted that the brothers could eventually walk free if they lived long enough.

Relatives of the victims reacted angrily in court, shouting:

"Bastards, sons of bitches, hang them,"
"Put them in the cemetery."

Outcome

Emilio Izquierdo died in prison on December 13, 2006.

Antonio Izquierdo hanged himself with knotted bed sheets in his prison cell on April 25, 2010.

It was stated that Antonio had just served 20 years of a 344-year sentence for the nine murders, and he had recently learned that he faced another five. It was also stated that Emilio died behind bars of a heart attack, and that Antonio died aged 73 and Emilio died aged 74.

Other details

It was stated that sisters of the Izquierdo brothers were acquitted of helping to plot the massacre. Their sisters died within a year of each other at a psychiatric hospital, where they had lived for 15 years.

A local reporter, Jose Antonio Hernandez, recalled the surreal scene after the shooting and wrote:

"Every family with their dead: that's what Puerto Hurraco was that afternoon,"
"From one doorway you could see two coffins, smaller than the others, and white. Inside, two angelical girls, with the lids closed, incessantly watched by their pained mother, whose gaze seemed to say that the omen had been fulfilled."

It was stated that Antonio Izquierdo attended his brother’s funeral handcuffed and limping and whispered to the grave:

"Brother, you go to heaven at age 74, but you go with the satisfaction of knowing that your mother was avenged."

The feud was also said to have claimed a life before the 1990 bloodbath. A third Izquierdo brother, Jeronimo, beat to death the uncle of the girls' uncle. That brother was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he died nine days later.

A film titled The Seventh Day was made in 2004 based on the massacre. The Izquierdo family opposed the production, as did the surviving Cabanillas sister. The regional government of Extremadura feared the film would destroy the area’s image as a bucolic rural haven.