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A man who called the ambulance to the scene of the merciless killing of a Liverpool man on the Costa del Sol described the moments after the attack as desperate efforts were made to save his life. Just minutes up the mountain from where hundreds gather every evening for food and drink in the heart of Sitio de Calahonda lies Club Del Sol and Finca Naundrup, in a secluded area surrounded by tall trees. It is here where Steven Gray met his end . Numerous outlets reported at the time how Steven had been at the Club Del Sol on the night of his death , but the ECHO can now confirm he had been playing football at the Finca Naudrup complex. The resort boasts a range of sports activities as well as being home to apartments where people are invited to come and enjoy a relaxing and "unique" fitness break, according to its website. Those who travel up the hill and onto the sliproad that connects the two sports clubs are invited to park on the shadowy tarmac in front of the Finca Naundrup gates. This is where Steven’s killers waited for him to finish playing football at around 8pm on April 21, 2025. Horrified locals and visitors are said to have heard seven gunshots pierce the serene silence of the area and take the life of the 32-year-old, despite his football manager running to his aid in the aftermath of the attack. Within 15 minutes of phone calls being made to police, a fire was reported nearby, along a winding main road that takes drivers up and down the hill. It was just off this road where Steven’s killers dumped their foreign-plated Cupra and set fire to the vehicle. Speaking to the ECHO just streets away from the shooting at a local café, Lewis Ravenscroft, who lives in the area with his mum and dad said: “It happened behind my house. Me and my dad were watching football on TV and we heard seven bangs. “We ran out onto the balcony and saw the gunmen in balaclavas. Everyone was running for cover and someone just shouted to ring an ambulance so I did because I can speak Spanish. “By the time we ran down and turned the corner, you could see smoke in the distance from where they had set the car on fire and switched cars." Once the fire was extinguished, officers discovered two guns believed to be the murder weapons inside the vehicle. The two masked men are yet to be caught, and it is believed police have not made any arrests as yet. A local councillor, who declined a full interview, said the investigation remained open. News of the targeted attack soon spread in a local Facebook group, with several people concerned for family members who were at the club at the time. Not only were Steven’s family left heartbroken by the attack on a man who has recorded links to Merseyside gangs , but the area was reeling by the sudden and unexpected violence. David, who works at the Club Del Sol, told the ECHO: “Something like this has never happened here before. This is a very quiet area, it’s very nice. “Lots of British people go to the club and play football, but they are never any trouble. You expect this in Fuengirola or Marbella, but never here.” When asked whether he thinks this is a result of criminality spilling into the area from surrounding locations, David shrugged and smiled before explaining it is “hard to say”. Steven's family told the ECHO in the months that followed his killing how he had left a life of crime behind, moving to Spain to start over and flee the gang culture on his doorstep. An inquest into Steven's death held at Bootle Town Hall in December last year heard how Steven was a huge Everton fan and talented midfielder. His family told the proceedings he had been picked up by the Everton academy when he was four and played at a high level until he broke his leg. Lynn Gray, Steven's mum, said her son's "secret idol" was Steven Gerrard and his style of play was likened to the former Reds captain. The mum told the inquest: "When the death is so violent people do judge and make assumptions. They judge the family as well." Senior Coroner Anita Bhardwaj told Mr Gray's family: "We are not here to judge anybody." A post-mortem was carried out in Spain and Mr Gray's cause of death was listed as severe haemorrhaging caused by gunshot wounds to his thorax and abdomen. The inquest was told that repeated efforts had been made by both the coroners' office and Mr Gray's family to find out more about his death from the Spanish authorities. Ms Bhardwaj said: "What we have is extremely limited because they're not providing us with any information." Steven's death was a result of unlawful killing, the coroner told the court. A town sandwiched between Marbella and Fuengirola, both hotbeds for organised crime from across the globe, Sitio de Calahonda is a place that is flirting with an overspill of crime from the surrounding Costa del Sol, often referred to as the Costa del Crime by Britons. While the area is largely quiet, it is on the precipice of organised crime. Its main strip, home to an Irish bar, Indian restaurant, Chinese restaurant and two tapas bars, as well as other venues, sees hundreds of Brits descend every evening, littered with people enjoying a protected life thanks to the 24-hour private security that overlooks the area. It's an area perfect for any British criminal who is looking for a secure location to lay low. “[Criminals are] not great for the area, and obviously also not great for that sports club,” Daniela Wenk explains to the ECHO. “It's not the publicity one wants to have, but for us, like normal residents, or the tourists that are visiting, these people, they are not a danger for us directly, because they deal in their circles with their people, but they wouldn't harm us, boring neighbours.” Speaking under the veranda of Los Olivos in the town, Daniela, who moved to the area 23 years ago at the age of 22 from her hometown of Hamburg, Germany, sees serious and violent organised crime as a world separate to that of “normal” people in the area. She does not see the two worlds crossing anytime soon. She continued: “I don't think anyone is scared. We're more scared of the other mafias that like to steal Rolexs, the pickpockets, that's more a concern, or the people that steal cars. They steal a lot of cars locally, as well. “But, [the Steven Gray shooting], I don't think anyone ever mentioned anything again, and, unfortunately, it happens a lot. So, there's a lot of that going on on the Costa del Crime.” Daniela is seen as the town's “woman behind the curtain” who runs the largest local Facebook group, Sitio de Calahonda Q&A, which sees her have a steady stream of information day-in and day-out. When the news broke on Facebook, she recalls people going into a panic. She said: “People got worried, of course, straight away, because, especially here in Calahonda, we care for each other. And then with these gunshots that were counted and heard, so it was set straight away by a few. Some said [in the Facebook group], "Has anyone heard the gunshots?" “People said there were seven gunshots, and then all the police came quite quickly, a lot of police cars, and then on that thread or on that publication, people were then sharing the information, and that police obviously taped the area off. There were lots of police, and then it was heard that someone got killed, we didn't know who.” The 65-year-old estate agent, who has her own family in the area, explained that when it was reported to have been a targeted attack, people soon forgot it happened. With little interest in reported gang feuds, people went back to life as normal. Steven's mum, Lynn Gray, previously told the ECHO: "Steven was walking to his car after playing a football match with his friends. As he got to his car, with his back to them, [the] cowards brutally shot him from behind. "Steven didn't see it coming and died instantly at the scene. This cruel, cowardly act has left Steven's family and friends devastated. My son will rest easy knowing how loved he'll always be." She added: "[Steven] went to Spain to get away from gang culture. He had no involvement in gang culture. Steven is from a family who care for him and always have and always will love him very much." Since the shooting, Lynn has received little information about the case, with Spanish authorities imposing a secrecy order through the local courts meaning little-to-no information is released - even to family. Before visiting the Costa del Sol, the ECHO spent several days in the Orihuela Costa where people voiced concerns over the lack of police in the area while criminals from across Europe moved in. The same might not be said for the Costa del Sol. Within minutes of arriving in Sitio de Calahonda, a Guardia Civil car slowly drove past, with Marbella and the surrounding south east coast being known as a home to international mafia groups. Earlier this year, this was cemented, when former police officer Juan José Gómez Millán described Marbella as the “United Nations of drug cartels", with police believing every major drug cartel has a lieutenant in the area at any given time. While the shooting is a shocking incident that rattled those living in the area, the wider municipality of Mijas, where Sitio de Calahonda is located, is the only area of the Costa del Sol to have seen crime rates drop, despite being so close to areas inundated with high-level criminals. The First Deputy Mayor and head of public safety, Juan Carlos Cuevas, said in December last year: “Mijas has become the exception: while all the surrounding municipalities are registering increases, here we have managed to reduce crime by 10%. This is not by chance; it is the result of a profound change in the way we plan and act.” Despite repeated attempts to contact members of the Mijas council, we received no response.
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