A man who opened fire on a meeting of apartment block residents in a coffee shop in northern Rome has killed three people, including a friend of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
The suspect, 57, had been in a series of disputes with the residents’ association, a witness told Italy’s Rai News.
“He came into the room, closed the door and shouted ’I’ll kill you all’ and then started to shoot,” Italian news agency Ansa quoted another witness as saying. Residents managed to overpower and disarm him before police arrived.
Three other people were wounded in the shooting, with at least one of them suffering serious injuries.
Hours after shooting, Meloni posted on Instagram what appeared to be a recent picture of herself alongside Nicoletta Golisano, one of the victims, saying she was a friend.
“It is not right to die like this,” Meloni wrote of the woman, who she said had a husband and 10-year-old child. “Nicoletta was happy, and beautiful, in the red dress she bought for her 50th birthday party a few weeks ago. For me she will always be beautiful and happy like this.”
Police have not commented on the motivation for the shooting and Meloni’s post did not suggest it was political.
The prime minister said a shooting range from which the suspect had taken the gun used in the attack had been closed and placed under investigation by the authorities.
The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, called an emergency security meeting for Monday after what he called “the grave episode of violence that has struck our city”.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
