Parete: The bullet that struck 14-year-old soccer player Luigi Pellegrino on Christmas Eve afternoon in Parete came from a location near Via Vicinale Vecchia. The North Naples Prosecutor's Office, headed by Francesco Greco, is beginning to have a clear idea, 14 days after that tragic day, of the trajectory of the bullet that struck the boy in the head. This is a crucial step forward in the investigation, which could lead to the soon identification of the person who fired multiple shots with a 9mm pistol that afternoon. One bullet struck Luigi in the head, as he was walking with his friends along the main street of Parete near the bar; the other bullets lodged in a van. Luigi collapsed lifeless on the ground in the arms of his cousin and a friend. He even managed to say, "I'm strong, don't worry," as blood gushed from his forehead, where the bullet had pierced his body. Since that day, and it's now been almost 15 years, he's been hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the Sant'Anna and San Sebastiano hospital in Caserta, where he's been kept in a medically induced coma. The doctors treating him believe it's still premature to pronounce on his condition, but the fact that his condition hasn't worsened is a cause for hope. His parents and friends, as well as all the good people who live in Parete, have been praying for days that Luigi will recover and soon continue pursuing his dream of becoming a professional soccer player.
From the beginning, the investigation focused on the triangle between Via Vittorio Emanuele, where the 14-year-old was with friends, Via Turati, and Via Vicinale Vecchia in Parete. The technical and ballistics expertise of Claudio De Matthaeis was crucial in identifying at least the direction from which the bullet had come. The consultant, in fact, conducted several inspections of those streets in recent days, even using a dummy positioned exactly where Luigi was that afternoon. The evidence gathered—namely, the bullet removed from the boy's head, the one that had struck the van, and the one found on Via Vicinale itself—helped narrow the investigation to that area. This narrowing was also due to another series of significant objective elements. The surveillance camera video acquired by the Carabinieri in the hours following the incident clearly showed the position of the young man's head and its rotation. Those frames, along with the evidence that the bullet that struck the 14-year-old's right ear was a so-called "falling" bullet, drew attention to that street. The 9mm bullet that passed through the boy's skull did not have the force to exit. For investigators, this meant only one thing: the shooter was not on a balcony across the street, much less in its immediate vicinity. The consultant and investigators arrived at Via Vicinale Vecchia after several site inspections to assess any obstacles—such as tall buildings—that the bullet might have encountered. At this time, however, it has not yet been possible to determine whether the shooter was on a nearby lot or on a balcony. Further technical assessments will be crucial in the coming days.
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