Lluch, 63, who served in the government of former prime minister Felipe Gonzalez, was shot twice in the back of the head in the garage of his apartment. A security guard found his body more than an hour later.
Juan Carlos condemned the assassination as a "disgusting crime," but asked the country to unite under the banner of democracy. Police blamed the attack on the Basque separatist group ETA.
"The answer to this inhuman and destructive action can only be confidence in our democracy, union of the political parties, (and) social cohesion," the king said in an address to congress.
Yet this is not the first time the king has had to call for calm in Spain. Juan Carlos has been widely credited during his reign for playing a key role in restoring democracy to his country.
In 1981, six years after former dictator Francisco Franco died -- leaving his hand-picked successor Juan Carlos to take the throne -- an attempted coup by a right-wing military contingent put the relatively new king to the test.
On Feb. 21, 1981, supporters of the old Franco regime took over the parliament holding the entire government hostage with automatic weapons.
The king's perserverance in convincing the military to return to barracks erased all doubts about his ties to the Franco regime.
After that fateful day, Spain's transition to democracy was seen as irreversible.
Last week, Juan Carlos echoed the same resolve that he did in 1981 and implored the Spanish people to defend the nation's democratic traditions.
He said "terrorist violence" would not make Spain hand over the "liberty, tolerance and the democracy that Ernest Lluch defended."
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