2006 Andorra Hotel Triple Shooting Reshaped Policing Protocols

Twenty years ago, a shocking triple shooting at the Hotel Roc de Caldes in Escaldes-Engordany reshaped Andorran policing practices, highlighting the need to secure crime scenes amid initial chaos.

On 23 February 2006, two local businessmen—Alain Solsona, 52, from Encamp, and Marc Soler, 31, from Massanet—were fatally shot during lunch in the hotel's packed dining room. Their killer, Xu Hainan, a 42-year-old Chinese national living in Barcelona, then turned the gun on himself.

Hainan had driven from Barcelona in a four-wheel-drive vehicle to meet the pair, reportedly to collect a debt linked to an unpaid shipment of illicit Chinese tobacco. Sources described him as a middleman for a smuggling network, running a clothing and leather goods shop near Barcelona's Arc de Triomf while tied to illegal activities. Facing pressure from his own associates—who allegedly threatened his family—he demanded payment. When Solsona and Soler delayed, Hainan retrieved a pistol from his car just before dessert, returned, and fired fatal shots at both men. He removed the SIM card from his phone, sat down, shouted words interpreted variously as "now the police can come" or "my family is free of blame," pressed the gun to his temple, and pulled the trigger. All three died at the scene around 2:30-3:00 p.m.

The dining room became a scene of pandemonium. Brain matter clung to wall decorations, blood stained the carpet, and bodies lay scattered, with the still-smoking pistol in Hainan's weakening hand. Diners fled in panic or watched in disbelief as politicians, including Interior Minister Josep Maria Cabanes and on-duty consul Toni Martí, mingled freely with police amid the corpses. Rumors spread of an Arab gunman who had fled, prompting a frantic search, activation of the GIPA special intervention unit, and a border lockdown under "Operation Cage." A dark-skinned waiter was briefly mistaken for the suspect.

Police director Lluís Betriu arrived, imposed order, and declared the case closed: two businessmen murdered, killer suicided. Yet the contamination—officials trampling evidence, forensic expert Carme Moreno working unchecked—exposed gaps in protocol. Lawyer Jordi Segura, then the hotel's legal representative, recalled the "total mess," with staff giving inconsistent statements in shock.

The incident, Andorra's first major gun crime since a 2004 knife murder in a Soldeu hotel, prompted lasting reforms. It led to a still-active police circular on handling serious incidents, mandating clear roles, scene isolation, and restricted access regardless of officials' rank. Investigation head Maribel Lafoz, now a lawyer, noted how victim positions and the gun's location quickly confirmed the shooter's identity.

Solsona had prior smuggling ties; two associates, Joan Prados and Joan Coromina, later met similar ends. Evidence collection dragged on—a bullet casing surfaced the next day under replaced carpet—underscoring the event's pivotal role in modernizing Andorran law enforcement.