The man arrested in the shooting
deaths of three people at a Milan courthouse Thursday allegedly
told police he wanted revenge for his business bankruptcy.
"I wanted to take revenge on those who ruined me," were the
first words reportedly spoken by 57-year-old businessman Claudio
Giardiello after his arrest.
Giardiello, who was facing a fraudulent bankruptcy lawsuit
in the crack-up of Magenta Immobiliare real estate company,
opened fire during his trial hearing on the third floor of the
courthouse, where he killed co-defendant Giorgio Erba and
37-year-old lawyer Lorenzo Alberto Claris Appiani, who was about
to testify against him.
He also hit co-defendant and business partner Davide
Limongelli, who is hospitalized in serious condition and injured
a lawyer, who is not badly hurt after being hit in the leg.
He then went down to the second floor and killed bankruptcy
judge Fernando Ciampi - who tried to protect a female colleague
during the attack - with two shots to the chest.
Milan prosecutors said Giardiello acted "in cold blood" and
fired a total of 13 rounds during the rampage, which also left
two people injured.
Giardiello then left the building, got on his motorcycle,
and drove to the town of Vimercate, where Carabinieri military
police apprehended him.
"He didn't seem upset," arresting officers said.
"He said he was on his way to kill another person he also
held responsible for bankrupting his business".
The shooter may have entered the building through a side
door reserved for judges and lawyers by showing false
identification papers, Milan prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati
said.
Giardiello, a native of Benevento in the southern Campania
region, resided in the northern town of Brugherio and is
reportedly separated from his wife, with whom he has a son and a
daughter.
Appiani, whom he killed with a shot to the chest, had been
his lawyer but was in court as a witness in the bankruptcy case
against him.
"Giardiello used to be my nephew's client," lawyer
Alessandro Brambilla Pisoni, Appiani's uncle, told ANSA.
"Then he started causing a lot of trouble so my nephew
declined to represent him. I knew he was in court as a witness
today because Giardiello had been sued".
Neighbors of the killer in Brugherio described Giardiello
as a "cordial, very well-mannered person".
"I was speechless when I heard he's the man from the
courthouse shooting," his next-door neighbor told ANSA.
"He always seemed like an easy-going person to me".
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