Barcelona fan with fake gun admits firing blanks at Espanyol fans

Barcelona fan with fake gun admits firing blanks at Espanyol fans

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José Manuel Pérez Díaz told El Periódico about the gun he brought to Cornella

I didn't put anyone in danger, he claimed after the incident that saw him arrested by police

Jose Manuel Perez Diaz is the Barcelona fan that brought in a fake gun that he fired at the derby between Espanyol and Barcelona at Cornella.

The 53 year old spoke to El Periodico to explain what happened. He said: “I fired (blanks) in Cornella. I had a fake gun. I didn’t put anyone in danger but I regret doing it.

“I think that it was seat 12 of row 11,” he added about the ticket that he bought for 153 euros. 

After Luis Suarez’s opener he celebrated and revealed his Barcelona shirt which he was wearing under a top and then held it out like Messi in the Bernabeu. In that moment “some radical fans of Espanyol didn’t like my gesture. They were close and started to throw insults at me. I remember that a group of about 40 jumped from their zone into mine. They were coming for me.

“I feared for my life and took out the gun. I pointed it at them and shot two times. Because the gun, a black 38 automatic, was fake, nobody was heart. But nobody knew that and they fled. The people around me were scared. They brought me down. Then security agents came and got me and took down a corridor next to a bar, where the police were.”

He had no problems taking it into the stadium. “They checked my backpack but didn’t pat me down, I had the gun in my waistband. Now I have to present myself twice month and have a public order to keep me away from football stadiums and public spectacles.”

Diaz recognised he had taken some alcoholic shots before the game and that combined with the strong medication he was taking to combat chronic depression. 

Espanyol explained that he was brought down by two police officers who were off-duty and fans of Espanyol in the stand, who were by chance next to him. “The two fans, after seeing the gun, brought him down and delivered him to stadium security services,” he said, also accusing him of being drunk and throwing insults at their club.