Officer could face murder charges, police say - An Italian soccer fan whose death sparked widespread violence on Sunday was shot by a policeman, authorities said on Monday. The officer who killed 26-year-old Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri at a central Italian motorway rest stop may face murder charges, police said.
At present the officer, Luigi Spaccatorella, is under investigation for manslaughter but superiors said the possible charge "could get worse".
Arezzo Police Chief Vincenzo Giacobbe said "numerous witnesses" had seen the 35-year-old policeman firing with both hands on his gun from the other side of the motorway.
Spaccatorella apparently acted in the belief that Sandri and his friends were speeding off after robbing the petrol station - when in fact they were driving away after a scuffle with Juventus fans.
Giacobbe speculated that Spaccatorella may have been aiming at the car's tyres.
"But if he was doing so he was taking an enormous risk," Giacobbe added. Giacobbe said a police-issue bullet was found in the body of Sandri, a rising Rome DJ who was travelling to see Lazio play Inter in Milan.
Sandri and three companions had just jumped back into their car after a scuffle with Juventus fans and were heading out of the service station when the bullet entered the rear-side window of the vehicle and hit Sandri in the neck.
Giacobbe said police were not sure the scuffle had been about football.
Fans of several Italian clubs, led by those of Napoli and Roma, on Monday drove to the scene of Sandri's death to leave their scarves in tribute.
Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri came out of a meeting in Rome with soccer and police chiefs saying she expected "exemplary" action after the hooligan violence, including a rampage in Rome, that followed Sandri's death.
She said she expected soccer play to be halted for at least one day.
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato will report to the Senate on Wednesday on Sandri's death and the subsequent hooliganism.
Meanwhile, steps will be taken to stop potentially violent fans travelling to other cities on their team's away matches. An interior ministry panel which deals with security sporting events decided that matches will be examined on a case-by-case basis to see whether fans of the away team should be allowed to attend the game.
The toll of injuries among policemen rose to 40 on Monday after a night of street violence around the city's Olympic Stadium.
The most seriously injured was a police officer hit by a metal bar in an assault on a police station near the stadium.
Doctors said it would take him three weeks to recover.
Three persons - two men and a woman - were arrested during the riots in which an estimated 500 Lazio and Roma fans attacked three police stations and the headquarters of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).
Rome authorities voiced confidence that more arrests would follow. Damage to various buildings and vehicles was said to be "incalculable".
The incidents in Rome came after Sunday night's Roma-Cagliari match was called off for security reasons.
Earlier, hooligan violence led to the suspension of the Atalanta-Milan match in Bergamo and a Serie C match at Taranto.
Incidents were also reported in Milan, after the suspension of the Inter-Lazio match, and in other Italian cities.
On Monday evening, as well as deciding a possible suspension of play, authorities were also set to decide possible further measures against hooliganism in the wake of a crackdown implemented after a policeman's death in February.
Experts have said hooligans had been regrouping after being curbed and therefore seized on Sandri's death to renew their assault on the police.
"I am convinced that the hooligans were only waiting for an excuse to unleash the mayhem and bestiality which we saw," said Luca Pancalli, the CONI vice-president who steered Italian soccer out of the Calciopoli match-fixing crisis.
"There are no miraculous recipes (against hooliganism)," said Italian Soccer Federation (Federcalcio) chief Giancarlo Abete.
"But we have to come up with something - even iof it takes a long time. "I can't imagine that the world of soccer in 10-15 years will only be made up of people watching TV".
