Police on Friday formally arrested two Latin American nationals, charging them with the attempted murder of a train conductor after they brutally attacked him with a machete Thursday night.
They are named as Ecuadorean national Jackson Jahir Lopez Trivino, 20, in Italy on an expired residency permit, and Salvadoran national Josè Emilio Rosa Martinez, 19, who is believed to have wielded the machete that almost amputated the arm of conductor Carlo di Napoli.
Both suspects are believed to belong to MS13, a notorious Latino gang that has committed a series of murders, robberies and beatings in Milan. Police have detained two people in relation to a brutal machete attack on a train conductor late on Thursday.
The conductor suffered massive injuries to an arm, with a part of it almost cut off, and he underwent surgery lasting around seven hours early Friday. Doctors are hoping to be able to save the arm's functionality. An off-duty railway employee who tried to help the conductor suffered head injuries, but his condition is not serious, ANSA sources said. The attack ensued after group of young people of South American origin refused to present their tickets during a service transporting passengers from the Milan Expo site. The two people detained belong to a Hispanic gang, sources said. "The injured person, C.D., had a serious cut injury to the left arm, an injury that led to a subtotal amputation," read a statement by Milan's Niguarda hospital.
"An attempt here was made to recover the arm's functionality".
The statement said it will not be possible to say for several days whether the arm has been saved.
Four different specialist surgeons took part in the operation
Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni said that security on trains must be beefed up after the brutal machete attack on a conductor, adding that shooting should be an option.
"We'll request that soldiers and police be put (on trains) to combat these phenomena," Maroni said. When asked whether shooting should be a possibility, he replied: "yes, naturally, it's legitimate self-defence. I want someone to stop these things and if it's necessary to shoot, you shoot".
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