1 dead, 4 wounded in Italy supermarket stabbing spree
Updated
Four people have been killed in a wave of stabbing attacks in Italy, including a woman shot dead in the western city of Verona, police say.
The woman was allegedly carrying an AK-47 in a bag when she was shot dead, in what police said was a targeted “terrorist attack”.
“It is not an isolated incident,” said Verona Deputy Mayor Giuliano Zaccardelli.
“We had expected this to happen. But this is the worst thing that has happened in a long time.”
The four victims killed were three elderly men and one woman, each suffering at least one knife stab wound to the chest, Zaccardelli told a news conference.
The elderly victims all survived and were taken to hospital with relatively minor wounds, while the woman was taken to hospital with a single stab wound, but one that is likely to have been fatal, police say.
The four were shot dead by a man who had run in from a neighbouring house and shot dead the woman, police say. It is not clear if the woman was the target of the shooting or a possible bystander.
The man, who has been named locally as the suspect, was shot dead by officers at the scene.
Zaccardelli said the police had identified the man as a “person of interest” in the case but were still trying to find him and interview him.
“We want him to be brought to justice,” he told reporters, warning that anyone who helped to carry out the attack “would come to be held responsible”.
‘Terrified’
The events began on Saturday night when the man, carrying two bottles of water and a knife, walked around the corner of a supermarket and stabbed a man on the street, police said.
The man, who was believed to be a petty thief, managed to flee before police arrived.
Police then went on to investigate a second stabbing in the city, where a 38-year-old man died after being stabbed in the chest.
A third man was also stabbed on the street, police said, and had tried to help the second victim, who also died in the incident.
Three of the victims were found by passers-by on the street near the supermarket at around 11:00pm, while the fourth was found
