Hero rookie cop who gunned down murderer
A TRAINEE policeman and his partner were praised as heroes yesterday after killing the armed Berlin attacker in a dramatic shootout.
Luca Scata, 29, and Christian Movio, 35, came under fire when they stopped Anis Amri outside a suburban Milan rail station at 3am.
The terrorist pulled a loaded .22-calibre pistol from his backpack and screamed ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he shot Mr Movio in the shoulder, witnesses said.
He then ran through the square trying to hide behind cars while firing.
But Mr Scata, who had only been a police officer for nine months and is still on probation, gave chase and fired back twice in quick succession, shooting the terrorist dead.
Mr Movio, who was wearing a bulletproof vest that was pierced in the attack, needed surgery for a shoulder injury but was not in danger and was later pictured making a phone call in his hospital bed.
Both the policeman were praised by Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni for their ‘courage and professional skill’. Angela Merkel expressed her deep thanks to the officers who challenged Amri yesterday.
Mr Scata, from Canicatti in Sicily, had only transferred to northern Italian city at the end of October and had joked on his Facebook page ahead of the move: ‘From today Milan will be more secure!’
His father Giuseppe Scata said yesterday he was just happy his son was alive.
‘He is a brave boy and he did his duty,’ he said. ‘When we spoke to him on the telephone early this morning he still did not know that the dead boy was the attacker.’
He was with Mr Movio on a routine patrol when they stopped Europe’s most wanted man to check his ID papers in the Sesto San Giovanni neighbourhood of Milan.
In those first few moments, Mr Movio, an experienced patrol officer and his rookie partner, a former Italian army volunteer, believed they were conducting a routine stop.
It was not unusual to see a man of north African descent in Sesto San Gionvanni, a once-thriving industrial hub that is now a grimy, working-class suburb with a large immigrant population and a prominent mosque.
‘I don’t have documents, I am Calab- rian,’ [from the south of Italy] Anis Amri mumbled, according to local reports. He said he had mislaid his documents.
Within a split-second the encounter erupted into violence as Amri suddenly drew out a gun and shot at the two policemen, revealed Italian interior minister Marco Minniti.
According to one report Amri shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great) as he fired, but reports also suggested he had yelled ‘police b-------’ as he opened fire.
Locals described hearing gunfire rip- ping through the neighbourhood. One pensioner, named as Angelo, said: ‘I woke up to go to the bathroom at 3am. I heard “bam-bam” and thought it was fireworks.’
‘It was a regular patrol,’ Milan police chief Antonio de Iesu said. ‘They had no perception that it could be him, otherwise they’d have been more careful.’
Amri had no ID, no phone and only a pocket knife on him, as well as the .22-calibre pistol.
Witnesses said the two policemen had crouched over Amri and tried to keep him alive, but the Tunisian died after ten minutes.
Mr Minniti spoke to the officers on the phone to thank them and said he would visit them in the coming days to ‘personally embrace them’.
‘These two extraordinary men, of a very young age, simply doing their duty, have done an exceptional service to the community,’ he said.
‘This was the most wanted man in Europe and we immediately identified him and neutralised him. This means our security is working well.’
‘Italy is grateful to them. Thanks to people like them, Italians will have an even happier Christmas.’
Italy’s police chief Franco Gabrielli said he was ‘proud of their professionalism’ and Berlin’s police force sent a tweet thanking the two men.
Mr Scata’s Facebook page has since crashed because so many people are leaving messages of thanks and congratulations. Barbara Dalpozzo wrote: ‘Luckily for Italy there are people like you.. Merry Christmas Luca.’
Ivobbello Triddick added: ‘Thank you and congratulations! You’re a hero, one of the real ones, who devote their lives to the country! Long Live Italy!’
Mr Scata was a former Italian army volunteer, but his mother told reporters: ‘Being in the police has always been his dream.’
His partner Mr Movio was well enough to receive visitors after surgery. He paid tribute to his younger colleague. ‘My partner’s actions were exemplary, he reacted immediately when the pistol came out,’ he said.
‘My partner reacted immediately’