Comments on: Lazio Fan Accidentally Killed By Police

By: Tom Sharp

Tom Sharp — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:42:01 +0000

‘Apparently’ (I have no idea on the reliability of this), the man who was shot was actually sleeping in his car at the time.

Again, ‘apparently’, the officer fired twice – a warning shot into the air, and then accidently fired again while running to the fans.

Now, a safety into the air is fine by me. Watch out for it coming back down, but its a fair enough response, but surely, SURELY, even Italian polica guidelines say you should flick the safety on while not using the gun.

You know, that little bit on the gun that stops it going off unexpectedly? That could have prevented all of this.

He’s now being charged with manslaughter.

By: Southroy

Southroy — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:07:27 +0000

Inter and Lazio have home games for Matchday 5 (Nov. 27 & 28) of the Champions League. Hopefully, the situation is under control by then. Otherwise, it would be a nightmare for the visiting teams and supporters. UEFA has to show some initiative, don’t you think?

By: Southroy

Southroy — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:57:48 +0000

Can you imagine the reaction if Italy doesn’t win on Saturday?

By: Andrei

Andrei — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:01:08 +0000

It is insane. Next time Man Utd goes there and there is a fan brawl (which is inevitable following the humiliation of last season), make sure to blame the travelling supporters. I am not saying that the death is in any way realted to football, what I am saying is that what happened last winter/spring and what followed that tragic incident in stadiums around Italy was too much.

In my opinion the only way to stop the fans is to suspend football for a couple of months during the winter period so that the teams do not suffer in the Champions League or UEFA Cup.

Also some action from UEFA would be nice. It might have some impact if they now issue a warning to Italian teams about suspending them from European compatitions if this comes up again. Also if they are to take some action, please do not give one of your fines which the players’ maids could afford. Do SOMETHING!!!

This has to stop. Football is no place/reason for such a thing to happen.

By: Sophia

Sophia — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:48:31 +0000

How do you accidentaly kill someone with a warning shot? Try answering that and tell me how far you get.

By: BeckhamUnited

BeckhamUnited — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:10:33 +0000

Italian clubs are big.. But the fans sucks.. Remember the ROMA vs UNITED!!..

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:53:57 +0000

Andy – Absolutely. It’s almost crazy how sane British football has gotten…

By: Andy @ Liquid Football

Andy @ Liquid Football — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:03:04 +0000

Brian: Fair point, I guess it’s just the recent culture that we’ve gotten used to in Britain, where if a football fan is killed then mass riots don’t seem to happen, not to the scale of Rome’s ones anyway.

By: Marco Pantanella

Marco Pantanella — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:19:58 +0000

Notice: Before any of you elaborate in speculation, I invite you to check out a summary of this week-end's events in the Italy blog over at TheOffside.com. In cases like these it's better to get all the facts before making any judgement. R.I.P. Gabriele Sandri.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:32:00 +0000

Kenny – He’s being charged with manslaughter, with “the possibility” that he could eventually be charged with something worse. The appearance (keeping in mind that I have no idea what really happened at that gas station) is that the Italian police are revising their decision to protect him, and are instead going to sacrifice him in order to placate the mob. As someone wrote today, they’re throwing him under the bus. But there are so many political considerations at work in all these decisions that it will be nearly impossible to get at the truth.

Andy – they’re not just considering postponing football because the fan who was shot was on his way to a game. They’re considering postponing football (and already have postponed Serie B and Serie C, actually) because the incident has been used as a pretext for violence in and out of football stadiums by football fans. Atalanta fans tried to storm the pitch yesterday, and the police station that was attacked was outside the Stadio Olimpico.

There’s been a lot of good coverage of this at Pitch Invasion and Spangly Princess. Also a post at The Run of Play on why we’re so fascinated by football-related violence:
http://www.runofplay.com/2007/11/football-violence-in-italy-and.html