Officer who shot fan investigated for manslaughter

THE policeman who shot an Italian football fan sparking riots across the country is being investigated for manslaughter.

The officer, who has not been named, said yesterday he had accidentally fired the shot that hit 26-year-old Gabriele Sandri in the neck. Police called the death a “tragic error” and the exact circumstances surrounding it remain unclear.

“We’ll uncover the truth,” police chief Antonio Manganelli said yesterday.

Italy’s national news agency said that the man who fired the shot was put under investigation for possible manslaughter in Arezzo, a Tuscan town about 125 miles north of Rome where the killing occurred.

The shooting happened after police intervened to stop a scuffle between Mr Sandri’s group of Lazio fans, headed to see their club play at Inter Milan, and a group of Juventus fans.

Police said an officer fired two warning shots in the air. But the unidentified officer told the Corriere della Sera newspaper the second shot went off accidentally.

“I was not aiming anywhere, I was not pointing at anyone,” he told the paper. “The first shot I fired in the air and the second went off as I was running. What a fool. Now I know what happened, I am devastated. Now I have destroyed two families, that of this boy and mine.”

Mr Sandri’s death forced the suspension of three matches as clashes erupted in cities including Milan and Bergamo in the north.

In Rome, fans rioted into the night, setting rubbish bins and police vans on fire. They attacked the police barracks near the Stadio Olimpico and raided the nearby Italian Olympic Committee headquarters.

About 40 police officers were hurt.