Surveillance cameras in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio captured the moments leading up to the tragic death of 19-year-old soccer player Santo Romano, which occurred on the night between November 1st and 2nd. The footage shows a group of young people running, the atmosphere becoming tense, and then Santo collapses to the ground. A friend holds him in his arms, desperate.
An argument over trivial matters ended in tragedy. An altercation over trampled shoes escalated, culminating in a gunshot fired by 17-year-old Luigi DM, originally from Barra and a friend of another alleged murderer, Francesco Pio Valda, who is on trial for the murder of the innocent pizza chef from Pianura, Francesco Pio Maimone.
The first scene shows the comings and goings of young people in the square, particularly busy on weekends, interrupted by the scene of a boy suddenly running, followed shortly after by other young people.
The second scene shows the steps of the town hall, where Santo Romano is seen surrounded by his friends and collapses to the ground, hit, as will later emerge, by a gunshot fired by a 17-year-old boy with whom he had had an altercation shortly before over some trampled shoes.
Santo falls to the ground, one of his friends tears his hair, and other young people run away from the scene, frightened by what's happening. Shortly afterward, Santo Romano is transported to the Ospedale del Mare, where he dies from the severity of his injuries.
A 17-year-old from Barra di Napoli has been arrested for the murder of Santo Romano. The boy, represented by Luca Raviele, admitted to the Carabinieri and the prosecutor of the Naples Juvenile Court that he fired the gun but that he did so because he was "scared."
In the young man's reconstruction, Santo and his friends chased him, surrounded him and attacked him, Santo himself would have thrown a stone against his car and another attacker would have pulled out a knife: it would have been this last gesture that would have induced the 17enne to take out a gun, which he was illegally holding, and fire a shot to gain his escape.
The version of the murderer Luigi DM continues not to convince the judges
The boy also explained that he didn't realize he'd hit anyone, thinking he'd fired into the air. He immediately left San Sebastiano al Vesuvio and headed to Naples, to the Chiaia bar district, fearing the use of an illegally held gun and having fired in a crowded square with numerous surveillance cameras, but without suspecting he'd hit, much less killed, anyone.
A version that did not convince the investigating judge, who validated the arrest and ordered the 17-year-old to be held in custody in a juvenile penal institution.
The video we're attaching to this piece was shared yesterday evening on social media and later picked up by the newspapers Repubblica and Il Mattino. Its release sparked a wave of controversy and conflicting views.
The family: "Santo never threw stones."
The family's lawyers Marco De Scisciolo and Luigi Cavaliere, defenders of the mother and brother of the 19-year-old from San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, have released a note condemning the publication.
"Santo Romano's family learned with great indignation and sorrow of the publication of the video and the aforementioned subtitles, since, to date, there is no evidence or proof that Santo Romano ever threw a stone at anyone, much less the person who brutally killed him with a gunshot," they wrote.
"The description given by the judicial police of a frame from the same video speaks verbatim of Santo Romano waving his arms as if he wanted to throw something, but there is no evidence to date that a stone was ever thrown, regardless of any consideration of the manifest unlawfulness of firing a firearm as a reaction to the throwing of an object."
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Comments (2)
It's a really sad situation, we hope that justice will take its course and that light can be shed on what happened.
A truly sad and tragic situation, it is shocking to think how an argument over trampled shoes led to the death of such a young boy.