Liverpool man killed in Spain 2026

Key Points

• Steven Gray, 32, of Liverpool, sustained seven gunshot injuries when he was attacked by two masked men outside Finca Naundrup sports complex in Sitio de Calahonda, Spain on 21st April 2025.
• Local man, Lewis Ravenscroft, heard the gunshots, saw the assailants and called the ambulance as he was fluent in Spanish.
• The assailants escaped in a foreign-registered Cupra and abandoned the car which they then set alight on a nearby main road; two firearms were found in the burnt out car.
• No one has been arrested so far and there is an order of secrecy imposed by the Spanish authorities which has restricted even the release of information to the family.
• In December 2025, the inquest held in Bootle determined the cause of death to be excessive bleeding due to gunshot injuries to the thorax and abdomen.
• It was reported that Gray had come to Spain in order to get away from the gang scene and that he had no involvement with any criminal activity before his death.
• Residents of the area said that it was usually a quiet area and nothing like the shooting had ever happened in Sitio de Calahonda.

Liverpool (Liverpool standard) September 05, 2026 – A 32-year-old Liverpool man, Steven Gray, was shot dead by two balaclava-clad gunmen as he left a football match in Sitio de Calahonda on the Costa del Sol on April 21, 2025, in a targeted attack that left the local community shaken and his family heartbroken. Just minutes up the mountain from the busy evening strip of Sitio de Calahonda lies the more secluded Club Del Sol and Finca Naundrup sports complex, surrounded by tall trees, where Steven Gray played football on the evening of his death. According to the Liverpool Echo’s reporting, Gray’s killers waited for him to finish his match at around 8pm before carrying out the attack in the car park area in front of the Finca Naundrup gates.

As reported by the Liverpool Echo, horrified locals and visitors heard seven gunshots pierce the quiet of the area, killing the 32-year-old despite his football manager running to his aid immediately after the shooting. Within 15 minutes of emergency calls being made to police, a fire was reported along a winding main road that connects the hillside sports venues; it was just off this road that the attackers dumped their foreign-plated Cupra and set it alight. Once the fire was extinguished, officers discovered two guns believed to be the murder weapons inside the vehicle, according to the Echo’s account.

Who called for help and what did witnesses see?

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo at a local café near the scene, Lewis Ravenscroft, who lives in the area with his parents, said: “It happened behind my house. Me and my dad were watching football on TV and we heard seven bangs.” He added: “We ran out onto the balcony and saw the gunmen in balaclavas. Everyone was running for cover and someone just shouted to ring an ambulance so I did because I can speak Spanish.” Ravenscroft continued: “By the time we ran down and turned the corner, you could see smoke in the distance from where they had set the car on fire and switched cars.”

News of the targeted attack spread quickly in a local Facebook group, with several people concerned for family members who had been at the club at the time, the Echo reported. Daniela Wenk, who runs the largest local Facebook group, Sitio de Calahonda Q&A, told the Echo that people initially panicked when the gunshots were reported. She said: “People got worried, of course, straight away, because, especially here in Calahonda, we care for each other. And then with these gunshots that were counted and heard, so it was set straight away by a few. Some said [in the Facebook group], ‘Has anyone heard the gunshots?'” Wenk added: “People said there were seven gunshots, and then all the police came quite quickly, a lot of police cars, and then on that thread or on that publication, people were then sharing the information, and that police obviously taped the area off. There were lots of police, and then it was heard that someone got killed, we didn’t know who.”

What have Spanish police and the inquest concluded?

The two masked men have not been caught, and it is believed that Spanish police have not made any arrests as yet, according to the Liverpool Echo. A local councillor, who declined a full interview, said the investigation remained open, the Echo reported. A post-mortem was carried out in Spain and Mr Gray’s cause of death was listed as severe haemorrhaging caused by gunshot wounds to his thorax and abdomen, the inquest heard.

An inquest into Steven’s death held at Bootle Town Hall in December last year heard that repeated efforts had been made by both the coroner’s office and Mr Gray’s family to find out more about his death from the Spanish authorities. Senior Coroner Anita Bhardwaj told Mr Gray’s family: “What we have is extremely limited because they’re not providing us with any information.” The coroner told the court that Steven’s death was a result of unlawful killing.

What has Steven Gray’s family said about his death?

Steven’s family told the Echo in the months following his killing that he had left a life of crime behind, moving to Spain to start over and flee the gang culture on his doorstep. His mother, Lynn Gray, previously told the Echo:

“Steven was walking to his car after playing a football match with his friends. As he got to his car, with his back to them, [the] cowards brutally shot him from behind.”

She added:

“Steven didn’t see it coming and died instantly at the scene. This cruel, cowardly act has left Steven’s family and friends devastated. My son will rest easy knowing how loved he’ll always be.”

Lynn Gray also said: “[Steven] went to Spain to get away from gang culture. He had no involvement in gang culture. Steven is from a family who care for him and always have and always will love him very much.” The inquest heard that Steven was a huge Everton fan and talented midfielder, picked up by the Everton academy when he was four and playing at a high level until he broke his leg. Lynn Gray told the proceedings her son’s “secret idol” was Steven Gerrard and his style of play was likened to the former Liverpool captain. She also said: “When the death is so violent people do judge and make assumptions. They judge the family as well.”

How has the local community reacted to the shooting?

David, who works at the Club Del Sol, told the Echo: “Something like this has never happened here before. This is a very quiet area, it’s very nice.” He added: “Lots of British people go to the club and play football, but they are never any trouble. You expect this in Fuengirola or Marbella, but never here.” When asked whether he thinks this is a result of criminality spilling into the area from surrounding locations, David shrugged and smiled before explaining it is “hard to say”, the Echo reported.

Daniela Wenk, the 65-year-old estate agent who moved to the area 23 years ago from Hamburg, Germany, told the Echo that serious and violent organised crime is seen as a world separate to that of “normal” people in the area. She said: “I don’t think anyone is scared. We’re more scared of the other mafias that like to steal Rolexs, the pickpockets, that’s more a concern, or the people that steal cars. They steal a lot of cars locally, as well.” Wenk continued: “But, [the Steven Gray shooting], I don’t think anyone ever mentioned anything again, and, unfortunately, it happens a lot. So, there’s a lot of that going on on the Costa del Crime.” She explained that when it was reported to have been a targeted attack, people soon forgot it happened and went back to life as normal.

What is the wider crime context on the Costa del Sol?

Sitio de Calahonda sits between Marbella and Fuengirola, both known as hotbeds for organised crime from across the globe, and the wider Costa del Sol is often referred to by Britons as the “Costa del Crime”. Earlier this year, former police officer Juan José Gómez Millán described Marbella as the “United Nations of drug cartels”, with police believing every major drug cartel has a lieutenant in the area at any given time, according to the Echo.

Despite the shocking incident, the wider municipality of Mijas, where Sitio de Calahonda is located, is the only area of the Costa del Sol to have seen crime rates drop, the Echo reported. The First Deputy Mayor and head of public safety, Juan Carlos Cuevas, said in December last year:

“Mijas has become the exception: while all the surrounding municipalities are registering increases, here we have managed to reduce crime by 10%. This is not by chance; it is the result of a profound change in the way we plan and act.”

Despite repeated attempts to contact members of the Mijas council, the Echo received no response.

Background to the development

The killing of Steven Gray in April 2025 emerged against a backdrop of long-standing concerns about organised crime on Spain’s southern coast, where British nationals have both been victims and, in some cases, participants in criminal networks. The Costa del Sol has for decades attracted UK visitors and residents, but also individuals seeking to distance themselves from law enforcement in Britain, creating a complex environment where local Spanish authorities must balance tourism, residential stability and transnational criminal investigations. The secrecy order imposed by Spanish courts in this case reflects broader tensions between open inquests in the UK and ongoing criminal investigations in Spain, where disclosure is tightly controlled.

Prediction: how this development may affect the audience

For British residents and visitors on the Costa del Sol, the Gray case underscores the risk that targeted violence linked to organised crime can spill into otherwise quiet communities, even when individuals are not directly involved in criminal activity. Families of UK nationals killed abroad may face prolonged uncertainty where Spanish investigations are subject to secrecy orders, limiting the information available to coroners and relatives and complicating closure. Local businesses and community groups in areas like Sitio de Calahonda may experience heightened anxiety about reputational damage, even if day-to-day life remains largely unaffected, potentially influencing decisions about travel, residence and investment in the region.