U.S. student confesses to killing Italian policeman - media

[rooster59]

U.S. student confesses to killing Italian policeman - media

 

ROME (Reuters) - A 19-year-old U.S. student has confessed to killing a policeman in central Rome, in a crime that has shaken Italy, national news agency ANSA reported on Friday.

 

Mario Cerciello Rega, an officer with the Carabinieri military police, was repeatedly stabbed early on Friday after trying to arrest two people suspected of stealing a bag from a man in a popular tourist district.

 

Initial media reports suggested the assailants were North Africans, but police later said they had arrested two U.S. students in an upscale city centre hotel and had taken them in for questioning over the incident. Neither man was named.

 

ANSA reported that one of the two had confessed to the killing. The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Police murders are rare in Italy and politicians of all parties expressed their horror and outrage.

 

"A manhunt is under way in Rome to catch the bastard who tonight stabbed to death a Carabinieri," Interior Minister Matteo Salvini tweeted, adding that the perpetrator should do "hard labour in prison for the rest of their days."

 

Police released video showing two men following another person in the Trastevere district of Rome. The person being followed accused the two men of later stealing his bag, containing his phone and a small amount of cash, police said.

 

The owner called his own phone and one of the thieves offered to sell the bag back to him, agreeing to meet in a nearby neighbourhood. The owner then alerted the police, who approached the suspects.

 

One of the two men pulled a knife and stabbed Cerciello Rega, the 35-year-old policeman, who was in civilian clothes and had married less than two months ago. He died almost immediately.

 

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Richard Chang)

 

 

[Tug]

Idiot game over you are done

[zydeco]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Initial media reports suggested the assailants were North Africans, but police later said they had arrested two U.S. students

They can release a video, so how about the names and photos of the killers?

[lannarebirth]

Absolutely possible, but certainly not a typical MO of US students abroad in Europe. May justice be served whatever happened.

[Thingamabob]

Doesn't sound like US students to me.

[mogandave]

Doesn't sound like US students to me.

Why?

I think we can all guess why they don’t release the photos of the killers...

[arithai12]

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

Doesn't sound like US students to me.

 

14 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

Why?

I think we can all guess why they don’t release the photos of the killers...

 

Go to huffingtonpost.it, the names and pictures are there, yes they are US students, one of them confessed - they actually found the knife in their room (smart). There is also the story if you care to google translate, the students were trying to buy drugs.

[HLover]

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

Doesn't sound like US students to me.

Drug buying twenty somethings...sounds alot like US students.

[remorhaz]

I'm surprised they didn't label them... "youths"....

[arithai12]

4 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

Absolutely possible, but certainly not a typical MO of US students abroad in Europe. May justice be served whatever happened.

I don't know about typical, but a common MO of US students in Europe is to get stoned as much as they can, alcohol mainly but also drugs. I say this from direct experience.

Anyway, an american woman (admittedly not a student) was killed by her pusher/lover in an italian city not long ago, and read the story of Amanda Knox (student) if you can get a version without the rose-tinted spectacles.

 

Justice... I doubt he will stay long in an italian prison, the US embassy knows which levers to pull.

[Mick501]

Bloody farangs.

[Sujo]

4 hours ago, zydeco said:

They can release a video, so how about the names and photos of the killers?

Why do u want names and pics. U think u may know them? Couple of your friends missing lately?

[simple1]

1 hour ago, mogandave said:

Why?

I think we can all guess why they don’t release the photos of the killers...

 

Because they are all American white boys?

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.it/entry/carabiniere-ucciso-lamericano-elder-lee-ha-confessato-lho-accoltellato-io_it_5d3bfdcde4b0ef792e0c7034?ncid=other_trending_qeesnbnu0l8&utm_campaign=trending

[JemJem]

1 hour ago, arithai12 said:

I don't know about typical, but a common MO of US students in Europe is to get stoned as much as they can, alcohol mainly but also drugs. I say this from direct experience.

Anyway, an american woman (admittedly not a student) was killed by her pusher/lover in an italian city not long ago, and read the story of Amanda Knox (student) if you can get a version without the rose-tinted spectacles.

 

Justice... I doubt he will stay long in an italian prison, the US embassy knows which levers to pull.

Well said. I wonder if the killer will get the 'Amanda Knox treatment' and get away lightly with this crime.

 

Also, I sense that (I hope my sense is wrong) there is not too much outrage in this forum about this news, possibly due to the culprits being Americans. If the culprits were, say, from North Africa, Nigeria or India, there would possibly be all sorts of nasty remarks, including bigoted ones.

 

Anyway, of course, time will tell regarding the developments in this case.

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, arithai12 said:

I don't know about typical, but a common MO of US students in Europe is to get stoned as much as they can, alcohol mainly but also drugs. I say this from direct experience.

Anyway, an american woman (admittedly not a student) was killed by her pusher/lover in an italian city not long ago, and read the story of Amanda Knox (student) if you can get a version without the rose-tinted spectacles.

 

Justice... I doubt he will stay long in an italian prison, the US embassy knows which levers to pull.

 Indeed. Will depend on how rich and connected the parents and families of these killers are.

 

Amanda Knox shows rich kids can literally get away with murder.

 

Same same the world over.

[Bluespunk]

BBC is reporting the guy the students robbed was a drug dealer who had sold them “fake product” earlier. 

 

 

[Bluespunk]

13 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 Indeed. Will depend on how rich and connected the parents and families of these killers are.

 

Amanda Knox shows rich kids can literally get away with murder.

 

Same same the world over.

Unfortunately you may be right. 

 

The officer they killed was (according to the bbc) in plain clothes as part of an operation begun after the authorities received a tip off about the bag swap with the drug dealer the students had robbed. 

 

Defence lawyers will have a field day with the sob story they spin around this. 

[Credo]

It will be interesting to see if the White House takes an interest in this case the same way it has with the rapper in Sweden.  

 

[wilailuk]

US white trash, looks like Beavis and Butthead..

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7292403/Two-American-tourists-aged-18-19-confess-killing-Italian-cop-bungled-drug-deal.html

 

 

[Jingthing]

It's very dumb to conflate this case with the Knox case. Also it's incorrect that Knox got off easy. She had to deal with the Italian justice system for years before the justice system there finally found her not guilty. It was hardly because of a corrupt deal with the US government.

 

These two accused will be facing their own specific cases in Italy. Again absolutely nothing to do with Knox.

 

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mogandave]

It will be interesting to see if the White House takes an interest in this case the same way it has with the rapper in Sweden.  
 

Probably only the white one.

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Credo said:

It will be interesting to see if the White House takes an interest in this case the same way it has with the rapper in Sweden.  

 

They will not. They're not celebs. 

[Inn Between]

11 hours ago, zydeco said:

They can release a video, so how about the names and photos of the killers?

According to one news source, here they are:

 

Lee Elder Finnegan (left) and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth (right) are accused of fatally stabbing an Italian police officer after a drug deal gone wrong.(Polizia Di Stato)

[Jingthing]

One looks wholesome and milk fed. The other one looks like a junkie. 

[Mikisteel]

2 fools and no horses for them to ride away on. 

[wilailuk]

Weird names though.. "Elder FInnegan" - Mormon or Moron, Amish runaway? Hjorth is a danish name I think, I should know, I´m Danish... 

 

What say The Hon. Jingthing, you´re from these shores?

 

No CAPS pls. !

 

????

[Jingthing]

28 minutes ago, wilailuk said:

Weird names though.. "Elder FInnegan" - Mormon or Moron, Amish runaway? Hjorth is a danish name I think, I should know, I´m Danish... 

 

What say The Hon. Jingthing, you´re from these shores?

 

No CAPS pls. !

 

????

We've got all the ethnicities in the U.S. 

I've never heard of a first name Elder, but his actual name is Finnegan Lee Elder though so it's his last name.

 

Yes the Mormons use Elder as a title but that's not the same thing as a name.

 

Elder as a last name is SCOTTISH, right?

 

Both young men are native San Franciscans. 

 

[wilailuk]

Yeah, you got everything overthere, and thankfully The Trumpf is cleaning up the mess!

 

Don´t think he will help these two morons, better with the black dude locked up in Sweden, "black votes matter" ..!

 

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, wilailuk said:

Yeah, you got everything overthere, and thankfully The Trumpf is cleaning up the mess!

 

Don´t think he will help these two morons, better with the black dude locked up in Sweden, "black votes matter" ..!

 

Don't be absurd. They're accused of murder of a cop and the case looks strong. Even the craziest president wouldn't get involved in that. 

[arithai12]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

It's very dumb to conflate this case with the Knox case. Also it's incorrect that Knox got off easy. She had to deal with the Italian justice system for years before the justice system there finally found her not guilty. It was hardly because of a corrupt deal with the US government.

 

These two accused will be facing their own specific cases in Italy. Again absolutely nothing to do with Knox.

 

The only reason I mentioned the Knox case is that she was an american student in Italy, in response to another poster. Of course the cases are different.

Regarding her interaction with the italian justice system, which in that particular case was admittedly not at its best, keep in mind that a) she first accused a black guy of the murder, he spent time in prison being totally innocent b) she concocted lies after lies to the investigators c) she never managed to provide a convincing explanation of what actually happened although she was present at the scene (on the bed) of the murdered girl. Another guy is currently in prison having confessed the crime, but he implicated her. I think she deserved all that she got.

If you sincerely think there was no pressure from the US government - though I wouldn't go as far as calling it a "corrupt deal"  - well I won't disturb you anymore.