Murder of Gabriele Sandri
{{Short description|2007 police shooting in Italy}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| location = A1, Autogrill Badia al Pino, Civitella in Val di Chiana
| date = 11 November 2007
| image = Memoriale-Badia-al-Pino-est.png
| caption = The memorial to Gabriele Sandri at the site of the shooting.
| type = Shooting
| weapon = Pistol
| fatalities = 1
| victim = Gabriele Sandri
| perpetrator = Luigi Spaccarotella
| motive = Impulsive behaviour
}}
The murder of Gabriele Sandri is a crime that occurred on 11 November 2007 in Italy, in which the police officer Luigi Spaccarotella fired a gunshot on the A1 motorway near the Autogrill at Badia al Pino Est service station located in Civitella in Val di Chiana (Arezzo), taking the life of a 26 year old disc jockey from Rome following some scuffles between football fans.{{Cite news |date=2007-11-11 |title=Italian police kill football fan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7089485.stm |access-date=2025-04-06 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} What followed were nationwide scenes of violence.{{Cite news |date=2007-11-12 |title=Italy fans rampage after killing |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7090017.stm |access-date=2025-04-06 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
Background
File:Graffitti_Gabriele_Sandri_in_Roma_(cropped).jpg that pays homage to Gabriele Sandri.]]
Born in Rome on 23 September 1981, 26-year-old, Gabriele Sandri, nicknamed "Gabbo", was a well-known disc jockey in the capital. He was a fan of the SS Lazio football team and his parents were owners of a clothing shop in the Balduina area.{{Cite web |author=Fiori |first=Stefano |date=23 September 2015 |title=La Lazio ricorda Gabriele Sandri |url=https://roma.repubblica.it/sport/2015/09/23/news/la_lazio_ricorda_gabriele_sandri_il_tifoso_ucciso_nel_2007_da_un_colpo_di_pistola_sparato_da_un_agente-123520380/ |website=roma.repubblica.it}}
Shooting
On the morning of 11 November 2007, Sandri and four other friends were driving on the Autostrada A1, heading towards Milan to watch the football match between Inter Milan and SS Lazio scheduled for 3:00 pm at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in San Siro. The five, on board a Renault Mégane , stopped at the Badia al Pino service station near Civitella in Val di Chiana (Arezzo) to wait for the arrival of other friends, also coming from Rome in a Renault Clio. Around 9:00 am, the Lazio fans came into contact with some Juventus supporters and a fight broke out between the two groups.{{Cite web |date=11 November 2007 |title=Tragedia sull'A1, Italia sotto choc per il tifoso ucciso da un agente |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/cronaca/tifosi-morto/tifosi-morto/tifosi-morto.html}}
The scuffles attracted the attention of a patrol of the Highway Police (Polizia Stradale) who were on the opposite side of the road and who, having turned on the siren, moved to the other side of the road. While the group of Sandri's friends got back into the car and were about to leave, the officer Luigi Spaccarotella - according to his testimony, convinced that the four were fleeing following a robbery - got out of the service car, took aim and from a distance of about fifty metres fired two gunshots.{{Cite web |date=1 August 2012 |title=Omicidio Sandri, la Cassazione:"Spaccarotella consapevole dei rischi" |url=https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2012/08/01/omicidio-sandri-cassazione-spaccarotella-consapevole-dei-rischi/313226/}}
The second bullet passed through the fence dividing the carriageways and hit the Mégane, which in the meantime had started moving, hitting Sandri in the neck, who was sleeping in the middle of the back seat. The travelling companions immediately realised Gabriele's serious condition and therefore stopped at the next service station in Reggello, 30 km further on, to alert both the police and the emergency services. The ambulance arrived on the scene but the young man was already dead.
= Reactions and consequences =
The news spread and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) decided to postpone the match between Inter and Lazio: for the other matches, the start was ordered with a 10 minute delay.{{Cite web |date=11 November 2007 |title=Il campionato non si ferma, esplode la rabbia negli stadi |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/cronaca/tifosi-morto/rabbia-ultra/rabbia-ultra.html}} For the following weekend, the FIGC ordered the suspension of serie B and serie C. Several stadiums were the scene of incidents, caused by fans protesting against the police. In Bergamo, the match between Atalanta and Milan was suspended after a few minutes due to the excesses of the Orobic supporters.{{Cite web |date=11 November 2007 |title=Bergamo, ultrà scatenati |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/sport/calcio/serie_a/giornata-12/atalanta-milan/atalanta-milan.html}} Other violent reactions occurred in Parma and Taranto. In Lavello, Potenza, the Brindisi fans were the protagonists of some episodes of violence against the police and six Apulian fans were arrested,{{Cite web |title=Lavello (Pz), Arrestati sei ultras del Brindisi 1912 |url=http://www.brundisium.net/notizie/shownotiziaonline.asp?id=17249}} while Milan and Rome were invaded by processions of fans who attacked the barracks and the police. For reasons of public safety, the match between AS Roma and Cagliari
As an immediate measure, the FIGC expressed the idea of banning away matches considered to be the most dangerous and of making recognition mandatory at the entrance to stadiums.{{Cite web |author=Bianchi |first=Fulvio |date=15 November 2007 |title=Trasferte vietate per quindici tifoserie |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/cronaca/tifosi-morto-2/trasferte-vietate-15/trasferte-vietate-15.html}} The fan card (Tessera del tifoso) was then promoted in 2008,{{Cite news |author=Galdi |first=Maurizio |date=18 September 2009 |title=TESSERA DEL TIFOSO |url=http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/2009/settembre/18/TESSERA_DEL_TIFOSO_Ecco_tutto_ga_10_090918047.shtml}} although in the following years the problem of violence in stadiums and between fans was never completely resolved.{{Cite web |date=19 December 2015 |title=Aumenta la violenza negli stadi italiani. E in curva comanda l'estrema destra |url=https://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/19-12-2015/aumenta-violenza-stadi-italiani-curva-comanda-estrema-destra-rapporto-annuale-14015326105.shtml}}
{{Ill|Statuto (musical group)|lt=Statuto|it|Statuto (gruppo musicale)}} dedicated the song È già domenica to Sandri, released on the {{Ill|È già domenica|lt=album of the same name|it|È già domenica}} in 2010.{{Cite web |title=È già domenica |url=https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?id=42486}}
= Funeral =
Sandri's funeral was held on 14 November 2007, in the Church of San Pio X in Balduina.{{Cite web |date=14 November 2007 |title=Gabriele, il giorno dell'addio |url=https://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Altro_Calcio/Primo_Piano/2007/11_Novembre/14/funerali_1411.shtml}} Thousands of people attended the ceremony, including the entire Lazio team, the captain of the Associazione Sportiva Roma, Francesco Totti and the coach Luciano Spalletti.{{Cite web |date=14 November 2007 |title=Roma, ai funerali di "Gabbo" Sandri folla e corteo |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/dirette/sezioni/cronaca/a1/funerali-tifoso/index.html}} As the coffin was being carried out, some of those present chanted slogans against the police and scarves from other teams were left on the coffin.{{Cite web |date=14 November 2007 |title=I funerali di Gabriele Sandri |url=https://video.repubblica.it/sport/i-funerali-di-gabriele-sandri/14395/15580}}
The legal proceedings
In July 2009, Spaccarotella was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment for manslaughter with conscious guilt:{{Cite web |date=14 July 2009 |title=Sandri, ecco la sentenza |url=https://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/14-07-2009/sandri-oggi-sentenza-50758886981.shtml}} the sentence was then reformed on appeal.{{Cite web |date=15 July 2009 |title=Sandri, sei anni all'agente: "Omicidio colposo" |url=https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2009/07/14/news/sandri_sei_anni_allagente_omicidio_colposo_il_padre_una_vergona_per_tutta_litalia-1820594/}} In December 2010 and changed to voluntary homicide, re-evaluating it to eventual intent, and increasing the sentence to 9 years and 5 months of imprisonment.{{Cite web |date=1 December 2010 |title=Sandri, fu omicidio volontario |url=https://firenze.repubblica.it/cronaca/2010/12/01/news/sandri_processo_d_appello_oggi_la_sentenza-9714776/}}
In 2012, the Supreme Court of Cassation, to which Spaccarotella's defense had appealed, reaffirmed the second-instance verdict of the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Florence, confirming the conviction for voluntary homicide. Ten years after the crime, in the autumn of 2017, he was granted semi-liberty, to be able to carry out voluntary work.{{Cite web |date=5 November 2017 |title=Il poliziotto Spaccarotella in semilibertà: "È tornato anche ad Arezzo" |url=https://www.lanazione.it/arezzo/cronaca/arezzo-spaccarotella-gabbo-sandri-1.3512569}}
References
Bibliography
- {{Cite book |author=Filippo Grassia |title=Inter. Il calcio siamo noi |publisher=Sperling & Kupfer |year=2010 |isbn=9788820049676 |pages=389}}
- {{Cite book |author=Maurizio Martucci |title=11 novembre 2007. L'uccisione di Gabriele Sandri una giornata buia della Repubblica |publisher=Sovera Edizioni |year=2008 |isbn=9788881247875 |pages=160}}