Italian minister tweets PHOTO of blindfolded US teen suspected of Carabiniere killing

Italian Interior Minister Salvini has dismissed concerns about leaked pictures of an American teenage cop-murder suspect in a blindfold and handcuffs, saying the only victim to cry for is the murdered Carabiniere officer.

Eighteen-year-old Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth and Finnegan Elder, 19, were arrested for allegedly fatally stabbing officer Mario Cerciello Rega eight times on a street in Rome on Friday. 

The Carabinieri police force said in a statement that the two San Francisco teens confessed to the killing after being interrogated and faced with “overwhelming evidence.” 

The photograph printed in Italian media shows Natale-Hjorth wearing a blindfold as he sits handcuffed in a chair in a police station. Italian police commander Francesco Gargaro told the media he was briefly “illegally blindfolded,” for four or five minutes before he was questioned on Friday to prevent him seeing office documents. An investigation has been launched into the blindfolding.

Salvini tweeted the photograph on Sunday, saying those who complain about “the arrest of a prisoner” should “remember that the only victim to cry for is a man, a son, a 35-year-old husband,” who “died in service at the hands of people who, if guilty, only deserve jail for life.” 

The murder allegedly happened after a drug deal went badly, and one of the police officers who was called to the scene was fatally stabbed. Police say they found a large knife hidden behind a ceiling panel in the Americans’ hotel room, and the clothing worn during the attack. 

Under Italian law, a person can be charged with murder if they are involved in the incident, even if they didn’t directly carry out the killing. The pair remain in jail. 

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