For five days, Younes Abouyaaqoub was Europe's most wanted man.
The 22 year-old had been the subject of a widespread search since a van ploughed into pedestrians on Barcelona's Las Ramblas, killing 13 people and wounding more than 120 others.
Catalonia's regional president, Carles Puigdemont, has confirmed Mr Abouyaaqoub, allegedly the man behind the wheel, was shot dead by police.
"Just before 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the Catalan police have shot dead Younes Abouyaaqoub, driver of the van and direct perpetrator of the attack in Barcelona."
Moroccan-born Mr Abouyaaqoub was cornered in a small town about 40 kilometres west of Barcelona, following a tip off from a local resident.
Officers discovered him on a road near a sewage treatment plant.
When they approached him, he reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" - god is great - and showed what appeared to be an explosives belt.
Regional police chief Josep Luis Trapero says the bomb belt turned out to be fake.
"This person opened his shirt or the jacket he was wearing and underneath there was a T-shirt with a belt with possible explosives. Later it turned out that it was fake, just like the ones in Cambrils, it was fake and it did not have any explosives. At this moment, police forces used their weapons and they shot dead this person."
Spanish authorities say "everything indicates" Mr Abouyaaqoub was driving the van that rammed into pedestrians on Las Ramblas.
Police have now revealed that he fled on foot, before hijacking a car and fatally stabbing the driver, 34 year-old Pau Perez, as he made his getaway.
In the days after the attack, Mr Abouyaaqoub's mother, Ghanno Gaanimi had urged him to turn himself in.
His cousin has translated his mother's plea, in which she said she'd rather see her son in prison than dead.
"Please, please they should hand themselves in, above all for the parents. For everyone, they should hand themselves in. They should try and catch those that make them do this. Because if they die, they are going to snatch more young people. I think that it isn't just about these young people, it is more about the people that make them do this, it is the people that tell them to do this, that teaches them. What I would say is that they hand themselves in and we can see if we can stop this once and for all."
Police say an imam, suspected of radicalising the young men who carried out the attacks, died in an explosion at a house being used as a bomb factory on the night before the van attack.
He was part of the 12-strong terrorist cell believed responsible, four of whom are under arrest while eight others are dead.
Five men were shot by police in the seaside town of Cambrils, when another car was driven into pedestrians, killing one woman.
Spanish police say while the cell has been dismantled, the international investigation remains open.
Tourists in Barcelona say they're relieved the main suspect has finally been captured.
"Total relief. Because so far it's been on my mind that there is still one at large. So it's great that they have caught him."
Meanwhile, members of Barcelona's Muslim community have organised a multifaith rally in the city rejecting terrorism.
Large crowds gathered, chanting "Not in my name" and holding up banners and signs, some of which read, "I am Catalan, like you, these assassins attempt an attack against me as well", and "Islam equals peace."
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