Eugen Marin Sabau’s photo. A Securitas security guard who fired on four people and was shot by security forces in Tarragona on December 14 last year. Mossos d’Esquadra will transfer him to penitentiary units this Tuesday. At Terrassa Hospital a patient will be given euthanasia by voluntary consent. If nothing intervenes, accompanied by some relatives and friends, he will first be anesthetized and then receive a lethal combination of medicines in two rooms. Media outlets will be outside both locations as the events unfold in Spain and in his native Romania. There is no precedent like this: a prisoner who chooses to die without a trial.
The text of the euthanasia law, approved in March 2021, defines euthanasia as an act of intentionally ending a person’s life by one’s own explicit will with the purpose of avoiding suffering. The current medical case aligns with the law, which should be applied according to medical criteria when it concerns the honorable death of a citizen facing irreversible suffering. Eugen, who attempted to kill colleagues eight months earlier and was stopped by police at the brink of death, is awaiting a trial that will no longer proceed while the law is reviewed in a clinical context. He suffers from irreversible tetraplegia, with limited movement of an arm and neck, a right leg amputation, bladder catheter dependence, immobilizing ulcers, and unrelieved persistent pain that requires constant medical care. He has remained in police custody since his injury after the judge ordered preventive detention pending trial.
From a medical standpoint, there is little controversy. But the justice system faces a more complex debate. With his death, the possibility of healing the four victims Eugen Marin Sabau shot, three of whom were targeted at close range with intent to kill, disappears. Lawyer Jose Antonio Vitos, who defends a Mossos d’Esquadra officer injured in the arm during the incident, has filed several appeals against the medical decision. He sought relief in Spain’s highest courts and in European courts, but none suspended euthanasia.
obsessed with work
Eugen Marin Sabau was born in Romania and has lived in Spain for nearly two decades, in Alcover, Tarragona province. At 45, he worked as a Securitas security guard and was described by acquaintances as intensely focused on his job. The owner of the flat on Avinguda Maria de Alcover where he resides and others in Sant Salvador described him as consumed by his work and his perception of mistreatment.
“Conversations with him often returned to work matters,” said Josep Maria, who spent time talking with Eugen about his concerns at Securitas. Reports indicate he believed he was being treated unfairly, and that he perceived discrimination tied to his immigrant status. “He felt they did not compensate him fairly for travel, assigned him the toughest shifts, and offered less than others,” said Gumersindo. “His perception of racist behavior at the company reinforced his sense of grievance.”
five injured
Driven by a belief that change was impossible, Eugen, armed on December 14, 2021, went to the Tarragona Securitas office wearing disguise and opened fire. Three former colleagues sustained serious injuries, with two in critical condition. Before the attack he emailed the recipients with a cruel message: “Happy holidays you bastards. Thieves and racists.”
After the shooting, Eugen fled and exchanged fire with Mossos d’Esquadra officers. He was wounded in the arm during the confrontation and fled to an abandoned house on the outskirts of the city. He barricaded himself in Riudoms and refused any mediation. The Special Intervention Group (GEI) of the Catalan police eventually neutralized him. He was transported to a hospital by the Medical Emergency System (SEM) team, where he had survived the earlier injuries only to seek an end to his life through euthanasia.
“Work mattered to him more than anything, and he felt the company made his life impossible,” said Gerard Cheerleader, Eugen’s lawyer. Cheerleader described working sessions with Eugen and noted that he would not reveal whether his client later regretted or apologized to the victims, a development that remains unknown.