UNARMED

Slain Italian Police Officer Didn’t Have Gun When Attacked

Mario Cerciello Rega had reportedly “forgotten his gun” on the night of the incident.

The Italian police officer who was killed after being attacked by two American teens didn’t have his gun on him at the time of the incident, ABC News reports. Mario Cerciello Rega and his partner “were attacked immediately” by Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, according to Gen. Francesco Gargaro. Gargaro said Cerciello Rega had “forgotten his gun” when he was attacked by the two men. Italian prosecutor Michele Prestipino said the men were then taken in for interrogations, which were conducted “with respect of the law.” Italian newspapers had previously published a photo showing what appeared to be one of the Americans blindfolded and handcuffed in custody, but Prestipino clarified he was blindfolded before the interrogation and that the questioning was done “in the presence of the defense lawyers, of interpreters, and after the reading of all the notifications envisioned by law.” The two California residents remain jailed in Rome, formally accused of stabbing the officer during an attempted extortion.