BOLZANO. A near tragedy. Yesterday in via Cappuccini a man, armed with a large kitchen knife, entered the tobacconist next to the Trevi Centre, throwing himself directly at the owner. First he attacked him with his bare hands, then he tried to hit him with the weapon, screaming and sowing terror among those present. The courageous intervention of a customer, who rushed to the tobacconist’s aid, meant that the attacker lost his knife before managing to injure anyone.
A violent scuffle arose, at the end of which the man, who was having the worst of it between the tobacconist and the customer, managed to escape, but not before turning the shop upside down. When the police arrived, around 1.30pm, they found the place devastated by the fury of the criminal. Robbery is ruled out: the attacker would have been removed from the shop a few days earlier because he was a nuisance. He would have returned yesterday to “take revenge”. A punitive expedition against the tobacconist, which could have ended in the worst possible way.
The customers inside the store were very shocked. The owner thanked the gentleman who helped him deal with the man several times. «Luckily that customer gave me a hand: a tall and strong man. Without him I don’t know what I would have done”, he said yesterday on the phone, still shocked by the ferocity and wickedness of the gesture.
Hunt for the attacker
It all happened in broad daylight, a few steps from the markets crowded with tourists. The attacker, a 22-year-old of North African origins, was identified by the police thanks to surveillance cameras. Now there is a manhunt on the streets of the city.
Police officers, the Flying Squad, the Forensics and the Red Cross intervened on site. The two injured people, the owner and the customer who came to his aid, were taken to hospital for checks. Fortunately they did not suffer serious injuries, only abrasions due to the struggle. “Thanks to the timely intervention of a citizen, the worst was avoided – the commissioner Paolo Sartori commented – The police intervened within a few minutes and the man was identified”.
The testimony of the tobacconist
“He turned everything upside down, and the magnets fell to the floor and broke,” said the tobacconist, who returned to the shop a few hours after the attack to tidy up. He still couldn’t comprehend what happened.
“He’s someone I kicked out of the shop a few days ago because he’s annoying to other customers – he explained – You can see he didn’t take it well and came back to hurt me.” A former footballer and well-known figure in the city, the owner of the tobacco shop is one of the most popular traders in the area. Outside the door of his shop, everyone speaks of him fondly. “He has a good heart, he always tries to help anyone, even those who enter the shop without money – says a friend who rushed to the scene shortly after the incident – He didn’t deserve something like that.”