A friend of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was among three women killed in a mass shooting in Rome at the weekend, the politician has revealed.
Nicoletta Golisano, 50, a wife and mother to a 10-year-old son, was shot dead in an attack on a residents’ association gathering in a bar to the north of the Italian capital on Sunday afternoon.
Claudio Campiti, 57, opened fire on the meeting with a Glock pistol he had stolen from a nearby shooting range in what appears to be the culmination of a long-running feud with the association over the run-down home in which he lived.
Elisabetta Silenzi, 55, and Sabina Sperandio, 71, were also shot dead before local travel agent Silvio Paganini, 67, wrestled the gunman to the floor having been shot through the cheek.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (left) has paid tribute to her ‘happy and beautiful’ friend Nicoletta Golisano, 50 (right), after she was killed in a Rome mass shooting on Sunday
Ms Golisano was among three women shot dead in this bar in a suburb north of the Italian capital when gunman Claudio Campiti, 57, attacked a meeting of a local residents’ association
Ms Meloni paid tribute to her friend on Monday, calling her ‘happy and beautiful’.
The connection appears to be a coincidence, and there is no suggestion Ms Golisano was deliberately targeted for her association with the Prime Minister.
Four other people were also wounded in the attack, including one person who was in critical condition on Monday.
Police arrived after Campiti was subdued and arrested him, reportedly finding another 150 bullets and a second magazine for the pistol in his pocket.
He was also said to be carrying his passport, £5,000 in cash, and a backpack full of clothes.
Campiti was said to have been involved in a years-long dispute with the residents’ association over the partially-abandoned villa where he lived.
The house lacked electricity and other basic supplies, and he is thought to have blamed the association for that.
Local reports suggest his life began slowly falling apart after the sudden death of his son, then aged 14, in a sledging accident a decade ago.
Campiti’s Facebook page reportedly featured images of Hitler, Mussolini, and slogans from Italy’s fascist era.
Local reports suggest the attack was the grim culmination of a long-running feud between Campiti and the association over the partially-abandoned home in which he lived
Four others were wounded in the attack which only stopped when Campiti was wrestled to the ground by a local travel agent who was shot through the cheek
He was also a member of the shooting range where he stole the gun, and had been going there for ‘several years’, police have said.
Officers are investigating the range to discovery how exactly Campiti was able to leave the venue with a loaded pistol.
Witnesses say that, during the attack, he walked into the bar, closed the door, shouted ‘I’ll kill you all’ and then opened fire.
Mr Paganini, the have-a-go-hero, said he also shouted: ‘You’re all mafiosi.’
Speaking to the Corriere della Serra newspaper, he added: ‘They were moments of pure terror.
‘Campiti fired his first shot, then a second which killed a woman, then another shot at a third woman.
‘At that point I saw him turn towards me. I leapt on top of him. He could have killed me.’
Medics agreed, saying Mr Paganini was lucky to be alive after a bullet passed through his cheek without hitting his brain, or any vital veins or nerves in his neck.
Alessio D’Amato, a regional politician in charge of health, said: ‘Thanks to his actions, a much higher death toll was averted.’