In a shocking development, earlier today in the Palace of Justice in Central Milan located 1 kilometer away from Milan's Duomo cathedral - a major tourist attraction - a scene unfolded as if lifted from an Italian mob film, when a man on trial in a bankruptcy case opened fire killing the judge, a lawyer and a witness in the case against him according to emergency services reports.
Reuters [4] reports that the Police arrested the man, whom they named as Claudio Giardiello, in Vimercate, a town north of Italy's financial center, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano tweeted. He is being held at a military barracks nearby.
Emergency services said a fourth person was found dead in the court buildings with no apparent sign of injury. They gave no further details.
Giardiello shot the judge, Fernando Ciampi, in his office and killed his co-defendant and the lawyer in the courtroom.
"I heard a series of shots, I threw myself in the first office I could find and I thought I was going to have a panic attack," Massimilano Monti, who works for a legal office inside the court, said.
"I have been coming here for 20 years, it's the first time something like this has happened."
According to Reuters, "the incident raises questions about security at the city's public venues less than a month before the Milan Expo opens on May 1, the first time the city has held the world trade fair for more than a hundred years."
Another question raised is what is really going on in the Italian economy if one person's desperation is sufficient to send them on such an incomprehensible killing spree.
Don't expect any answers.
