🔗 Share this article

A trio of officers were killed and at least 15 additional individuals got wounded in a seemingly deliberate detonation from gas at a farmhouse in the northern part of Italy.

Event Timeline

The detonation took place as police and firefighters went into the residence in the vicinity of Verona to execute an removal notice for two brothers and a sister in their late 50s and mid-60s.

All three victims who died served in the Italian military police.

Arrests and Aftermath

One male and one female were taken into custody at the scene and one more individual who escaped subsequent to the explosion was located not long after. Each of them have been admitted to medical facility.

The blast could be heard some 5km (3 miles) away and photographs from the location revealed the structure reduced to a mass of wreckage.

“This is a time for grieving,” stated the Minister of the Interior the Interior Minister, who mentioned that attempts had been made to displace the three siblings in the previous occasions.

Financial Context

The leader of the region of Veneto, Luca Zaia, said the property was under an court order due to debts incurred by the three owners.

Negotiators had been dispatched to engage the brothers and sister who had locked themselves into the home. When the officers reached the location just after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), investigators believe one of the residents set off the explosion.

“When we entered the property, we faced an utterly insane act,” regional commander Commander Papagno informed reporters.

A gas canister had been ignited, and the explosion directly hit our members,” he explained.

Petrol bombs were also found at the site, the interior minister said.

Injuries and Destruction

The wounded by the explosion included eleven more officers of the Carabinieri as well as three officers of national police and a emergency responder.

Based on information from the local prosecutor, the farmhouse was in a dilapidated shape and had no electricity.

The prosecutor believed the detonation had taken place on a story above the entrance and told the press it was a “premeditated and voluntary homicide”. Shortly before the blast, he revealed personnel had “heard a whistle, probably the propane tanks being opened”.

Neighbor Statements

“All of us understood the scenario was critical,” nearby inhabitants stated to Italian media, mentioning that the three had in the past stated to “blow themselves up” rather than vacate the property.

“The explosion had left a ‘terrible, very painful and dramatic toll’.”

Minister of Defence Guido Crosetto stood alongside other political leaders in paying tribute to the three men who had been killed in the performance of their duties.