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US students held after police officer stabbed to death in Rome
US students accused of stabbing Rome police officer appear in court
(about 4 hours later)
Two male American students are being held in jail as authorities investigate the murder of a police officer in Rome.
Two American students have appeared in court in Rome accused of stabbing a plain-clothes police officer to death on a street near their hotel.
The students, named as Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, are both from San Francisco. They were reportedly on a study programme in the Italian capital and due to return home on Friday.
Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 18, and Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, from San Francisco, appeared in court in connection with the death of Carabinieri paramilitary police officer Mario Cerciello Rega, 35. The dead man, and a fellow officer, were in plain clothes when they confronted the two Americans in the wake of a drug deal gone wrong, the court heard.
On Saturday morning, it was reported that Italian police said the pair had confessed, but Elder’s lawyer later said his client had exercised his right not to respond to questions during a hearing in the Rome jail where they had been detained. The judge did not rule whether they would be kept in jail beyond an initial three-day period.
The murder of Rega, said to have recently returned to duty after his honeymoon, was widely condemned. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, said he hoped the murderer “never leaves jail”.
Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, was stabbed several times in the early hours of Friday after trying to arrest two people suspected of stealing a bag from a man in Trastevere, a central Rome district popular with tourists and young people, and trying to blackmail him.
Elder is accused of repeatedly stabbing Rega while Hjorth “pummelled” the second officer. The surviving officer was not seriously injured.
“We still have to establish what the motive was and the circumstances,” a Rome police spokesperson told the Observer. “But this is the first time something like this has happened to a police officer in years. Mario was a great person, we are all devastated.”
The court heard that both students were also being investigated for attempted extortion connected to the alleged drug deal. Investigators say the pair had snatched the bag of a drug dealer in Rome after the man apparently gave them a different substance instead of the cocaine they wanted. It is claimed the students then demanded a cash ransom and cocaine to return the knapsack.
Separately, police released video showing two men following another person who accused them of later stealing his bag. The bag contained his phone and a small amount of cash, police said.
The victim of the bag-snatching contacted Carabinieri after reporting the theft, and the plain-clothes officers were sent to the site, a police statement said. It added that the Americans, “even though the officers identified themselves as being Carabinieri, didn’t hesitate to engage in a struggle, culminating in the mortal wounding” of the policeman. Rega died in hospital soon afterward.
According to the Italian media, the pair had attempted to purchase cocaine but were aggrieved when they were sold aspirin, leading them to allegedly retaliate and steal the bag before fleeing.
Police said surveillance cameras and witnesses allowed them to quickly identify the Americans and find them in a nearby hotel. Police also said the two Americans were “ready to leave” Italy when they were found. A long knife was also found during a search of their hotel room.
The owner called his own phone and one of the thieves offered to sell the bag back to him, agreeing to meet in Prati, a nearby neighbourhood. The owner then alerted the police, who attempted to make arrests.
A police statement said that both Americans confronted with “hard evidence” had “confessed to their blame.”
One of the two men pulled a knife and repeatedly stabbed Rega, who was in civilian clothes and had recently returned from his honeymoon. He died of his injuries in Santo Spirito hospital, while another officer was injured in the incident.
Initial media reports suggested the assailants were North Africans, but police later said they had arrested the two US students in an upscale city centre hotel where they found a long knife along with a bloodstained T-shirt and took them in for questioning over the incident.
Police murders are rare in Italy and cross-party politicians expressed their horror and outrage.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, wrote on Instagram on Saturday: “We hope the murderer of our poor police officer never leaves jail. I remind the do-gooders that in the United States those who kill risk the death penalty. I’m not saying we go that far, but jail for life, yes!”
Laura Boldrini, a leftwing politician, said on Friday. “I hope those arrested for this horrendous crime are arrested and severely punished. To be killed at 35 while doing your duty for the community is intolerable.”
Nicola Zingaretti, leader of the centre-left Democratic party, said: “The tragic death of carabiniere Mario Cerciello, who died during an inspection, is painful. All my condolences, and that of the Democratic party, to his family.”
