{{Short description|Terrorist incident in Spain}} {{Infobox terrorist attack | title = October 1978 Getxo attack | image = | caption = | location = Getxo, Spain | target = Civil Guards | date = 22 October 1978 | time = 17:30 | timezone = UTC+1 | type = Gun attack, mass shooting, triple murder | fatalities = 3 | injuries = 1 | perps = 4 ETA | partof = the Basque conflict | weapons = Machine guns<br/>Shotguns }} {{Campaignbox Basque conflict}}
The '''October 1978 Getxo attack''' was a mass shooting gun attack by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 22 October in the Basque town of Getxo, a suburb of Bilbao. The attack occurred six weeks before a referendum to approve a new Spanish constitution.
The targets were a group of four civil guards who were returning from policing a football game involving Arenas Club de Getxo. After the game had finished, the civil guards were returning to their barracks, walking along Maximo Aguirre Street in the town.<ref name="LV1">{{cite news |last1=Careaga Artiach |first1=Gabriel |title=Otro criminal atentado en Bilbao |trans-title=Another criminal attack in Bilbao |url=http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1978/10/24/pagina-13/33744126/pdf.html |access-date=12 March 2013 |work=La Vanguardia (hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com) |date=24 October 1978 |page=13 |language=es |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607060542/https://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1978/10/24/pagina-13/33744126/pdf.html |archive-date=7 June 2015}}</ref>
Four ETA members, armed with machine guns and shotguns, who had been lying in wait behind the wall of the local Telefónica building, ambushed the civil guards, subjecting them to heavy gunfire before fleeing. Two of the civil guards were killed instantly, while the other two were seriously injured, with one of them dying in hospital four days later.<ref name="LV2">{{cite news |title=ETA-M se atribuye los últimos atentados de Durando y Pasajes |trans-title= ETA-M takes credit for the last Durando and Pasajes attacks |url=http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1978/10/27/pagina-18/33746661/pdf.html |access-date=12 March 2013 |work=La Vanguardia (hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com) |date=27 October 1978 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052024/http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com/preview/1978/10/27/pagina-18/33746661/pdf.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |page=18 |language=es |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Press">{{cite news |title=Killing in Basque country |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19781024.2.50.14 |access-date=6 January 2025 |work=Press |agency=NZPA-Reuter |date=24 October 1978 |location=Christchurch, New Zealand |page=9 |language=en |via=Papers Past (paperspast.natlib.govt.nz)}}</ref>
The ETA members involved escaped in two cars, driven by a further two participants in the attack.<ref name="LV1"/> The cars were later found abandoned in the Deusto district of Bilbao.<ref name="LV1"/> ETA claimed responsibility for the attack in a communique issued the following day.<ref name="LV1"/> The funerals of those killed saw protests against ETA.<ref name="LV2"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Getxo attack}} Category:ETA (separatist group) actions Category:Mass shootings in Spain Category:1978 murders in Spain Category:1978 disasters in Spain Category:Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1978 Category:Terrorist incidents in Spain in the 1970s Category:1978 mass shootings in Europe Category:October 1978 in Europe October 1978 Category:History of Biscay Category:1978 mass murders Category:20th-century mass murders in Spain Category:Mass shootings involving shotguns