Horror in Spain over the death , which occurred yesterday morning, of an 11-year-old boy , killed while playing football with some peers at the hands of a man who, with his face covered, stabbed him.

It happened in Mocejòn ( Toledo ), in Castile-La Mancha, where the search for the murderer, who fled on board an old grey Ford Mondeo, has been ongoing for 24 hours .

Agents of the Madrid Civil Guard have joined the manhunt , which is involving the Castile-La Mancha force, the national police, helicopters and a diving unit, as the prefect, Milagros Tolon, reported in statements to the media. Tolon assured that the security forces are working "against time" to arrest the attacker , but added that "I cannot say anything more because the investigation has been classified" and "there is a lot at stake".

At this time, the motive for the attack carried out yesterday at 9:45 against little Mateo remains unknown . "The child was playing with his best friend and another boy on the soccer field when the killer entered the complex. It seems through a hole in the wire fence at the back of the field. The two friends managed to escape. Mateo didn't make it," was the reconstruction made yesterday by Asell Sànchez-Vicente, 39, cousin of Lùa Sànchez, Mateo's mother, in his role as spokesperson for the family.

Another uncle of the little boy , Alvaro Martin, who was playing a paddle tournament in the same sports complex, realizing that something was happening , rushed to the soccer field and was among the first to help Mateo , El Pais reports.

Mateo was a well-known and beloved child in the small town in the province of Toledo , where his family runs one of the two bakeries. And he was a great soccer fan, a sport he played in the youth team of CD Modejòn. Flags at half-mast and a black mourning flag flutter on the balcony of the Town Hall, which has declared three days of official mourning and where a minute of silence has been called for 12:00 today in homage to the very young victim of the attack.

The desperation and pain of the little boy's family and the community poured out yesterday evening at 7:30 pm in the demonstration for the condemnation of the murder called in front of the municipal headquarters . Among the hundreds of people present, Mateo's classmates from the Miguel de Cervantes Institute of Mocejón shocked by the event.

Asell Sánchez Vicente, the family's spokesperson, read a 'Manifesto of Condemnation of Mateo's Murder' in which he denounced: "Mocejón woke up today to a terrible and incomprehensible event that no one can understand and that has left us devastated by pain. We want to express our strongest condemnation and absolute rejection of the murder of Mateo, a good and affectionate child whose life was taken by an individual at just 11 years old while he was playing soccer with his friends. Rest in peace, beloved Mateo, you will always be in our memories."

(Unioneonline/vl)

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