Italy PM Giorgia Meloni pays tribute to friend among three killed in Rome bar shooting
12 December 2022, 13:05
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has revealed that her friend was among the three women killed when a man pulled out a gun and opened fire at a meeting of apartment block residents in Rome yesterday.
Hours after the attack, Ms Meloni posted a picture on Instagram of herself alongside Nicoletta Golisano, who was one of the victims.
“For me she will always be beautiful and happy like this,” she wrote.
“It is not right to die like this.”
Police detained a 57-year-old man, who was overpowered by other residents after the shooting.
The attack took place at a meeting held at a bar in Rome's Fidene district.
A witness told Rai News the suspect was a local who had been in a series of disputes with the residents’ association.
“He came into the room, closed the door and shouted ‘I’ll kill you all’ and then started to shoot,” Italian news agency Ansa quoted another witness as saying.
Four others were wounded, with at least one suffering serious injuries.
Ms Meloni said that a shooting range from which the suspect had taken the firearm used in the shooting had been closed and placed under investigation by the authorities.
The city's Mayor Roberto Gualtieri called an emergency security meeting after what he called “the grave episode of violence that has struck our city”.
He confirmed via Twitter that three people were killed in the shooting in the working-class neighbourhood.
“The shooting occurred in an enclosed outdoor seating area of the bar, called 'Il Posto Giusto,' or 'The Right Place’,” he wrote.
