Two American tourists confess to stabbing Italian policeman to death in Rome
- A 35-year-old officer was stabbed to death while investigating a theft case
- Police said the duo were ‘ready to leave’ Italy when they were found
Two American teenagers were jailed in Rome on Saturday as authorities carried out a murder investigation in the killing of an Italian police officer.
A detention order issued by prosecutors was shown on state broadcaster RAI, naming the suspects as Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth and Finnegan Lee Elder. The detention order did not give their ages, but said they were both born in San Francisco in 2000.
Prosecutors said in the order that Elder is the main suspect, accusing him of repeatedly stabbing Carabinieri paramilitary policeman Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, who was investigating the theft of a bag after a drug deal gone wrong in Rome.
Natale Hjorth is accused of using his bare hands to strike the officer’s partner, who wasn’t seriously injured in the attack.
Both suspects were also being investigated for attempted extortion. Elder’s lawyer, Francesco Codini, said his client exercised his right not to respond to questions during a detention hearing held on Saturday in the Rome jail where the two teens are being kept.
Natale Hjorth’s lawyer wasn’t immediately available for comment.