🔗 Share this article

A trio of officers lost their lives and more than a dozen people were hurt in what appears to be premeditated gas explosion at a country home in the northern part of Italy.

Event Timeline

The detonation occurred as police and firefighters entered the residence in the vicinity of the Verona region to execute an removal notice for a brother and sister trio aged in their 50s and 60s.

Each of the three officers killed were members of the Carabinieri force.

Legal Proceedings

A man and a woman were taken into custody at the location and one more individual who ran away subsequent to the incident was apprehended shortly later. The trio have been admitted to hospital.

The detonation could be audible some 5km (3 miles) away and images from the scene showed the structure left as a heap of debris.

“This moment calls for sorrow,” commented the Minister of the Interior the Interior Minister, who mentioned that attempts had been made to remove the three siblings in the earlier times.

Financial Context

The head of the Veneto area, the regional head, stated the property was facing an eviction order due to unpaid amounts accrued by the three owners.

Mediators had been dispatched to talk with the family members who had barricaded themselves into the home. When the police arrived soon after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), authorities believe a family member set off the explosion.

“As we went inside, we encountered a completely deranged action,” provincial police commander Claudio Papagno informed the media.

“A gas cylinder had been ignited, and the blast immediately struck our officers,” he explained.

Molotov cocktails were also discovered at the residence, the Interior Minister said.

Injuries and Destruction

The wounded by the explosion comprised eleven more officers of the military police as well as three members of the state police and a firefighter.

As stated by the local prosecutor, the property was in a poor condition and had lacked electrical service.

He believed the blast had taken place on a story above the doorway and informed the press it was a “intentional and planned killing”. Moments before the explosion, he revealed personnel had “heard a whistle, likely the propane tanks being activated”.

Local Response

“We all knew the situation was dire,” local residents stated to local news, adding that the trio had earlier warned to “blow themselves up” rather than vacate the property.

“The blast resulted in a ‘horrific, deeply distressing and tragic cost’.”

The Defense Minister Guido Crosetto stood alongside other elected representatives in paying tribute to the three men who had been killed in the line of duty.