Boy, 15, quizzed over parents' gun deaths

Police were questioning a 15-year-old Italian boy tonight over the gun killing of his parents in their Rome flat, officials said.

The boy was coaxed down after more than an hour perched on the roof of his apartment building, where he brandished a pistol.

Investigators were trying to determine if the boy had fired the fatal shots, said the press office at Rome police headquarters.

The father, mortally wounded, telephoned for help as the drama began, police said. After several shots were fired, the boy, wielding a pistol, appeared on the edge of the rooftop of the building.

The boy stayed at the edge of the roof for more than an hour while authorities, who feared he might try to kill himself, tried to coax him back inside.

Italian state television said there were several weapons, all properly registered with authorities, in the apartment.

Before the boy agreed to leave his perch on the roof, he cried and waved to a neighbour across the street in the Esquilino neighbourhood near Rome’s central Termini train station.

No motive was immediately offered for the shooting.

Italian news reports said the boy was believed to have been suffering from psychological problems.

The boy’s father was Italian while his mother was German-born, state TV said.