DPA/Reuters/AFP
Rome
At least four were dead and five wounded after a man fired gunshots from his balcony into a Neapolitan street yesterday.
The 48-year-old suspect reportedly surrendered after police forced their way into the house.
The man used a pump-action gun to fire upon pedestrians and police officers before initially fleeing back into his dwelling, reported local newspaper Il Mattino and the Adnkronos news agency.
The street in the city’s Secondigliano district was cleared of people and blocked off in the wake of the attack.
According to reports, the man first shot his wife before he began to fire from his balcony and, at some point, threaten to blow it up.
Il Mattino reported that the wife and the shooter’s brother were both dead.
No motive was known.
The newspaper reported that the man is a nurse who owned the gun because he is also a recreational hunter.
“The toll is four dead, including a lieutenant in the municipal police who was a neighbour of the shooter and was the first to intervene,” a police spokesman said.
“We found two victims on the balcony, we presume they are members of his family but they did not have documents on them to allow us to identify them immediately.
“The fourth victim is a civilian who was passing in the street,” he said.