Mario Cerciello Rega-victim
Italy's problem with foreign criminals has taken a strange turn. Yesterday, we began following the story of a member of the Italian Carabinieri who was stabbed to death in Rome while trying to apprehend two suspects. At this point, two young Americans from California are in custody and charged with the crime.
Different versions of the incident have been flying around, but it appears that the two young men had attempted to purchase a gram of cocaine from a street dealer. After discovering that they had been sold a fake substance instead, they allegedly went back and stole a bag from the dealer, which contained his cell phone. When the dealer called his cell phone, the two youths arranged to meet him to recover their money. At that point, the dealer notified police that he had been robbed and the robbers were trying to sell him back his bag. The Carabinieri, dressed in civilian clothes, conducted surveillance and attempted to apprehend the suspects when they showed up. At this point, Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, was stabbed 8 times including to his heart. He subsequently died in the hospital. The suspects escaped, but were later picked up. They are identified as Elder Lee Finnegan (19) and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth (18), both from California.
Initial news reports indicated that the two attackers were North Africans, which proved not to be the case. Some reports indicated they were students in Rome though that could not be confirmed. They were supposed to return to California today.
One of the suspects, Finnegan, has reportedly confessed to stabbing Rega while the other suspect has reportedly made no statements. The above details come from the suspect's statements to police.
Rega was 35 years old and made just recently been married.
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