Irishman shot dead on Majorca holiday island

An Irishman was shot dead on the holiday island of Majorca, police said Thursday, in what local media reported may have been a settling of scores that went badly wrong.

“Yesterday at 9pm (1900 GMT), a person was… shot in the back, which caused their death,” a spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil police force told AFP. She said the man was Irish but gave no further details.

The shooting took place in Costa de la Calma, a residential area not far from the popular resort of Magaluf.

“The person who fired the shots escaped,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the perpetrator did not shoot anyone else.

Local media on Thursday said the shooter may have mistaken the man for someone else, in what could have been a failed settling of scores.

Majorca in the Balearic Islands is a huge tourist draw in Spain, and authorities there predict that more than 10 million people will visit its shores this year.