La Spezia. A knife brought from outside, a classroom as the scene of the attack, dozens of students in shock. Youssef Abanoub, 18, an Italian of Egyptian origin, died this evening after being stabbed inside the "Domenico Chiodo" vocational school on Via XX Settembre.
The alleged attacker, a 19-year-old (AZ), was stopped by the State Police and questioned for hours at the Police Headquarters: the hypothesis of the crime, with the death of the boy, is now leaning towards homicide.
The incident reignites a theme that has been circulating in schools and news for months: the ease with which very young children can walk around armed with blades, even bringing knives into classrooms. It's a sign of an escalation that's making school environments more fragile, transforming them from places of learning into potentially "sensitive" settings, where an argument can escalate into tragedy.
The reconstruction: hit in the side, he dies after hours of agony
According to the reconstruction so far, the attack occurred shortly after 11:00 a.m., inside a classroom. The 19-year-old entered the classroom brandishing a knife, then stabbed the boy in the side, causing severe bleeding in front of other students.
Emergency services from 118 and the Red Cross provided first aid on the scene, stemming the blood loss and transferring the injured man to the hospital. In the emergency room, he also underwent resuscitation, followed by delicate thoracic surgery. Transferred to intensive care in the afternoon, Youssef died shortly before 8:00 PM.
Outside the hospital, during the waiting hours, dozens of people gathered, including family members, friends, classmates, and teachers, in an atmosphere of apprehension and disbelief.
Knife seized, motive still unclear
Police arrested the 19-year-old, a student at the same school, and took him to the police station. Investigators interviewed witnesses inside the school and are trying to reconstruct the context in which the act occurred.
Among the rumors gathered outside, there is talk of a disagreement that arose in the previous days over romantic reasons: a hypothesis that, at this time, remains to be verified. The cell phones of the people involved are also being examined, while the Forensic Police have seized the kitchen knife that was allegedly brought from outside and used in the attack.
The Prosecutor's Office is expected to formalize the charges in the next few hours, with the possibility of homicide being charged (even aggravated homicide, a possibility that will be evaluated by investigators).
The security issue: knives and blades, the "leap" into schools
The most disturbing fact, beyond the human tragedy, is the dynamic: a knife entered a school building and used in class. This isn't a detail, but rather an indicator of a broader phenomenon: among young people, the perception of the knife as an object "at hand" is growing, often used to feel strong or intimidating, with the risk that a sudden conflict could escalate into murder in a matter of seconds.
In this scenario, prevention cannot be reduced to a mere post-crime repressive response: effective controls are needed, as well as daily work on conflicts, the culture of violence, managing tensions, and signs of distress, especially in institutions where fragility and complex social contexts coexist.
Political reactions and vigil in the city
Numerous institutional reactions. The League, led by MP Igor Iezzi, is calling for approval of the new security decree and an "absolute ban" on blades and knives, with aggravating circumstances for their use in contexts such as schools. Minister Valditara has called on schools to "reject all forms of violence," while Salvini has promised "even more restrictive measures and zero tolerance." Other voices, from the regional government to the municipal government, are calling for strengthened prevention programs. The MP Orlando urges reflection "without demagogy" on the rise in violence in the post-Covid period.
In the evening, the La Spezia Student Union organized a vigil in Piazza Garibaldi, asking for no flags to be displayed and for a respectful silence to be maintained, to express their closeness to the boy's family.
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Comments (1)
What happened at the school is truly tragic; the situation becomes worrying when young people bring knives into classrooms. More must be done to prevent this violence; we can't stand by and watch.