Gunman shoots mayor in Italy

A mayor running for re-election in a southern Italian town was shot and seriously wounded at a public event today, police said.

Police said they had detained someone in the case, but had no idea on a possible motive for the shooting of Mayor Sandro Principe, of the town of Rende in the southern region of Calabria.

The Apcom news agency said the bullet struck Principe’s cheekbone, then passed on and lodged in his spine. The ANSA news agency said police arrested a 64-year-old believed to be suffering from psychological problems.

Principe, 55, is a former member of parliament now running for re-election as mayor as part of a coalition of centre-left parties in local elections held on June 12-13.

Earlier this week, police found the decapitated body of another candidate in the local elections in the southern town of Pompeii, near Naples. Carlo Cirillo, 43, was running as part of a centre-left coalition for a seat on Pompeii’s city council in the local elections.

Police are still investigating that crime, and the cause remained unclear.