A crazed teenager has been killed by police at a Spanish airport in front of horrified tourists after threatening holidaymakers with a knife and trying to rob a taxi driver.
The 18-year-old Gambian was shot five times after going berserk and lunging at one of the officers who confronted him.
Foreigners were seen running for cover as shots ran out during the Saturday afternoon incident at Gran Canaria airport.
The first footage of the drama emerged overnight, showing the knifeman running at one of the five National Police officers trying to intercept him who fell to the ground in the ensuing chaos as bystanders ran for safety.
He was shot as he tried to attack the officer’s colleagues who appeared to be warning him to desist before they opened fire.
Court officials have confirmed one of the five bullets the teenager received hit him in the neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene despite the immediate arrival of emergency services who attempted to revive him.
CCTV footage of the incident, which unfolded just before 5pm on Saturday, is being analysed by an investigating judge based in the Gran Canaria town of Telde.
He had tried to board a flight to Gambia before going on the rampage, but was turned back after airport workers saw his ticket was for a plane due to take off on Thursday.
He is said to have tried to force his way through airport control after being intercepted, setting off a scanner because of the knife he was carrying in his rucksack.
Outside, a taxi driver, said to have been assaulted moments earlier, ran into the terminal shouting for help, triggering an immediate police response, according to Spanish media.
Ibon Dominguez, a spokesman for police union Jupol, has described the response of the officers who tackled the knifeman as ‘proportional and congruent.’
He said: ‘The man with the knife could easily have ended the lives of one of those policemen.’
Spanish police are authorised to use firearms only under exceptional circumstances involving direct and immediate threats.
Officers are required to follow de-escalation procedures, including verbal warnings, before resorting to lethal force.
The Canary Islands High Court of Justice said: ‘A duty court in Telde has been investigating the circumstances in which a person who was shot by the police died on Saturday in the airport area.
‘At the moment the court is compiling the images of the multiple camera recordings from outside and inside the airport in order to establish a reconstruction of the events.
‘The man was shot five times, including once in the neck.
‘The videos show that the deceased was apparently out of his mind and carrying a large knife and after attacking a taxi driver he felled a police officer and tried to knock down another, and was wandering around armed in an area with a large number of people, creating a real danger for their physical integrity.
‘He was 18 years old.’
Gran Canaria Airport is one of Spain’s busiest transport hubs, serving almost 14million passengers per year.
Crime rates are usually low around the airport.