“Stefano, get down, get down. Where is Daniela, is she in the car with you? It’s a shame that her name is not Stefano, she doesn’t know who Daniela is and because of the mistaken identity, she risks losing her life. “This is killing me, I keep telling myself,” says Claudio: this is the real name of the 46-year-old man originally from Milan, manager of a company in Bologna, who on Friday evening in Frosinone was attacked with a hammer by a man who mistook him for his ex-wife’s lover. The attacker, an old employee 48 years old, reportedly suffered physical injuries.
The manager suffered an injury to his left eye due to shards of window glass that exploded as a result of a hammer blow. He left the emergency room with a bandage and a prognosis of 15 days. His car, a BMW X3 bought a month ago, was damaged. He will never forget what happened to him: “It was a nightmare,” he admits.
RECONSTRUCTION
Last Friday, after finishing his daily work at a large company in Bologna, the 46 year old man got into his car. He had to go to Calabria, but as he had relatives in Frosinone, he took the opportunity to say hello and stop for the night. It was 10 p.m. when he arrived at his relative’s house, in a residential area near the center of the capital Ciociaria. It was the manager who told what happened: «I parked, I took my things, but when I was about to open the door I heard a man shouting. I turned around: for a moment I thought it was a robbery, then the guy started shouting, “Stefano, get down, get down. Is Daniela with you?”.
The manager tried to clarify the misunderstanding, but did not have time. The man was very angry, he didn’t seem to be himself and most importantly he had a 60 centimeter long claw hammer in his hand, with which he started hitting the window. “The glass blocked the first shot, the second shot broke, but the guy fired the third shot and it just missed me by a hair,” the company manager said. «I’m 1.90 meters tall and I could even face it – he continued – but at that moment I only thought about running away from that anger. I really don’t understand what’s going on.”
The poor man, with glass shards in his left eye, was ready to start his car again to save himself. “I put the car in reverse and, to avoid hitting the guy, I made a wider maneuver, but in the end I hit the curb. The impact was so hard that the wheel rim broke. Then, when I started again, I found him in front of me, on the hood. I don’t know if he threw himself at my car on purpose, but certainly when maneuvering quickly I did everything I could to avoid hitting him. So much so that I even ended up on the curb. I immediately got out, he got up from the ground, continued calling me Stefano and no more holding the hammer he used to attack me moments before in his hand.”
It was the manager who asked for help via 112. «Do you need an ambulance?, they asked me. I said yes,” explained the 46-year-old man. A few minutes later, 118 crew and carabinieri arrived on the scene. The two men, after initial treatment, were taken to the emergency room. Meanwhile, screams and commotion coming from the street had attracted the attention of the tenants of the surrounding buildings. Someone came out to better understand what was happening. It was one of the tenants who found the hammer in the flower bed and handed it over to the police.
INVESTIGATION
A personal injury complaint has been filed against the attacker, but the Carabinieri investigation continues to understand who the man’s real targets were and whether there was any reason to take other action, given the extremely violent nature of his behavior.
The mistaken identity may have been caused by the similarity to the model and shape of the car of another person – allegedly Stefano – who lives in the Frosinone area.
The manager found himself with a bandaged eye and his car damaged: «He only had a month to live, but not bad considering the circumstances. It almost killed me. That night was the fourth time I came to Frosinone since the beginning of the year and I will never forget it.”
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© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
