‘North African thieves’ stab cop to death on the streets of Rome provoking outrage and vow from Matteo Salvini to condemn them to ‘forced prison labor for as long as they live’
- Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, was knifed to death in Rome last night
- Grisly blade attack came just 43 days after the Carabiniere officer got married
- He was confronting two suspected thieves who had stolen a women’s purse
- The news could pour petrol on an already widespread anti-immigrant sentiment
An Italian paramilitary officer has been stabbed to death in the heart and back after he confronted two suspected Maghrebi thieves for allegedly snatching a woman’s purse.
Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, was knifed eight times in Rome last night and died in hospital despite desperate attempts from doctors to save him.
The grisly blade attack came just 43 days after the Carabiniere officer, from Somma Vesuviana, Naples, got married.
Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, was knifed eight times in Pietro Cross Rome last night
This morning, detectives and forensics teams descended on the blood-splattered crime scene to hunt for clues
The Carabinieri, paramilitary police, are now scouring the capital for two North African men in their twenties who are believed to have carried out the stabbing (blood stain pictured)
Police are now scouring the capital for two North African men in their twenties who are believed to have carried out the stabbing, according to Roma Today.
Italy’s hardline anti-immigrant interior minister Matteo Salvini tweeted: ‘Manhunt in Rome, to stop the b****** who killed a Carabiniere with a knife last night.
‘I’m sure they will find him, and that he will pay for his violence to the end: forced labor in prison for as long as he lives.’
The two suspects were being questioned by Rega for allegedly committing what is known as a ‘return horse’ crime in Italy.
The grisly blade attack came just 43 days after the Carabiniere officer, from Somma Vesuviana, Naples, got married
Widespread in the European country, it involves stealing someone’s belongings before negotiating a price with their victim to return it.
According to the Carabiniere – the national gendarmerie – the supposed North African thieves had demanded 100 euros for the return of the woman’s purse.
But as Rega moved in to intercept the suspected thieves, they pulled out a knife and stabbed the officer before fleeing.
This morning, detectives and forensics teams descended on the blood-splattered crime scene to hunt for clues.
If the suspected North African men are found to have killed the officer, it will pour petrol on an already fiery anti-immigrant sentiment which has been sweeping the country.
Salvini, who leads the far-right Northern League party which has a power-sharing agreement with the Five Star movement in government, has pushing for a clampdown on illegal migrants and asylum seekers.
Italy’s hardline anti-immigrant interior minister Matteo Salvini tweeted: ‘Manhunt in Rome, to stop the b****** who killed a Carabiniere with a knife last night’