Five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon, the terror man in a rental van prepared to drive his vehicle down La Rambla, the pedestrian boulevard in the centre of Barcelona, the legendary tree-lined public space long known for its dozens of outside cafés, its newspaper kiosks, flower market, La Boqueria – the legendary food market, the epic Joan Miró mosaic built into the boulevard, the sense of humanity on the move. The soothing, exciting, calming air of the people in a performance and the people watching the people in a performance. The urban life in Barcelona-by-the-sea, crowded with tourists. That August day, the man in the van planned to plow down La Rambla and kill as many people as possible. His weapon was his rented vehicle.
It jumped the curb at the top of the boulevard.
