Gunman murders three in Milan courthouse

(ANSA) - Milan, April 9 - 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".