A Carabinieri police officer,
Luigi Capasso, killed himself and his two daughters on Wednesday
after shooting his wife in Cisterna di Latina.
The 44-year-old officer barricaded himself inside his home
and took the girls, aged eight and 14, captive after shooting
the 39-year-old woman, who was taken to Rome's San Camillo
hospital in a critical condition.
Carabinieri police officers broke into the flat after talks
with Capasso had stopped for about one hour and found only
bodies.
He had been holed up in the apartment for around nine hours.
The couple are thought to have been in the process of
separating.
Capasso waited for his wife, Antonietta Gargiulo, in a garage
and used his service revolver to shoot her three times as she
was on her way to work at a Findus plant at about 5am, according
to an initial reconstruction.
He then took the keys and went up to the flat, where the
children were still sleeping, according to the reconstruction.
Gargiulo had changed her Facebook status in February 2016,
saying she was at the "start of a complicated relationship with
myself".
She described herself as "a woman who loves her children".
Neighbours rushed to the scene to assist Gargiulo after
hearing the shots.
"Antonietta was on the ground asking for help, shouting,"
said a 20-year-old woman neighbour.
"I was scared. I heard the shots and I looked out over the
balcony and I saw Antonietta on the ground, shouting.
"I didn't know what had happened. She told the people who
went down to help that 'it was my husband'.
"I know Antonietta, she's a good person.
"I didn't know they had separated".
Capasso put a post on his Facebook profile on February 10
that, in retrospect, is alarming.
"Never say 'it'll never happen to me', 'I'd never do it'
because life can be unpredictable and no one is immune from
certain things," Capasso wrote.
"Everything happens, even what you would never have
imagined".
Both Capasso and Gargiulo came from the Campania region.
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