Suspect in Berlin market attack is killed by police in Milan shootout
The suspect in the Berlin market attack on Monday has been killed in Milan.
Reporting from Milan, Italy — Europe’s most wanted man was shot dead in Milan by a routine police patrol on Friday, four days after he allegedly drove a truck into a Christmas fair in Berlin, killing 12 and wounding dozens.
Police said Anis Amri had traveled by train from Chambery, France, on Thursday night to Turin, Italy — tickets in his possession plotted the course — and then to Milan, where he was spotted acting suspiciously by two police officers early Friday outside a train station in the suburb of Sesto San Giovanni.
Asked for identity documents, the Tunisian reached into a backpack “without hesitation,” pulled out a .22-caliber pistol and shot one of the officers in the shoulder, wounding him, said Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti.
As Amri shouted “police bastards” in Italian, the second officer, Luca Scata, 29, a trainee, returned fire and shot Amri twice, hitting him in the chest.
Witnesses said the policemen tried to keep the Tunisian alive but he died after about 10 minutes.
“The person is without a shadow of a doubt Anis Amri, the suspect in the Berlin attack,” Minniti said.
Amri was identified through his fingerprints after no identifying documents were found on him. “He had nothing written, no cellphone, just a small knife,” said Milan police Chief Antonio De Iesu. “He was a ghost.”
Minniti said he had spoken to the wounded officer, Cristian Movio, 36, in the hospital, and that he is expected to survive.
“Thanks to people like him we can have a happier Christmas,” the minister said.
Tributes poured into the Facebook page of Scata, the other officer, where he had written his motto: “Fear is a reaction, courage is a decision.”
At his family home in Sicily, his father, Giuseppe Scata, called his son “a brave boy,” adding, “When we spoke to him on the telephone early this morning he still did not know that the dead boy was the attacker.”
In Berlin, German officials confirmed that Amri had been killed and said they were relieved that the man they had called “armed and dangerous” had been stopped. But they said their investigation would continue into who might have supported Amri and what networks he may have used to escape capture, flee from Germany and get to Italy — crossing at least two international borders.
“I feel a great sense of relief that this assassin will not cause any more harm,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters in Berlin. “But the successful manhunt does not by any score mean that the investigation into what happened is over.”
He said that police and prosecutors were working hard to find and detain any accomplices.
“There is still a high level of threat to Germany,” De Maiziere added.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged that Amri had slipped past police to escape even though he had long been under surveillance on suspicion he was plotting an attack.
“The Amri case raises questions — questions that are not only tied to this crime but also to the time before, since he came to Germany in July 2015,” she said. “We will now intensively examine to what extent official procedures need to be changed.”
Conservative German politician Stephan Mayer said the case “held up a magnifying glass” to the shortcomings of Merkel’s migration policy, while Christian Lindner, head of the Free Democrats opposition party, said “catastrophic mistakes” had been made.
Holger Muenche, the head of the BKA federal crime office, told reporters that more than 100 investigators would continue working on the case through the holidays.
According to authorities, the 24-year-old Amri had been on the run since Monday, when he hijacked a truck, drove it through the Christmas market and then killed the Polish man who had been driving the vehicle.
Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack, although it is not clear whether Amri had any contact with the extremist group.
“Identifying and neutralizing him after he had traveled in Europe means we have a system that works,” Minniti said. Investigators will now want to know why Amri made for Sesto San Giovanni, which has a migrant Muslim population of about 5,000.
“We have asked around in the community and no one here knew him,” said Boubakeur Gueddouda, the Algerian-born president of the Islamic center in Sesto San Giovanni. “I hope we are not punished for this — the important thing is that we are all united against terrorism,” he added.
Amri spent four years in jails in Sicily for arson after he sailed from Tunisia in 2011, and officials have now admitted that he was likely radicalized during his spell in jail. On one occasion he reportedly threatened to decapitate a Christian inmate who refused to convert to Islam.
Suspicions that Amri had extremist contacts in Italy who may have helped him reach Germany were reinforced after it emerged that he was stopped in Germany this year carrying fake Italian identity papers.
Merkel praised the Italian police officers who stopped Amri and said it showed that authorities in Europe were able to work together efficiently.
“Terrorism is a challenge for all of us,” she told reporters. “It’s a good feeling to see how determined and effectively that we were all able to stand up to it across Europe and beyond.”
She warned that “the threat of terrorism will remain as it has for many years to come.” She pledged that the German government would continue to do all it can to protect its citizens.
“Our democracy, our state based on the rule of law, our values and our humanity are diametrically opposed to the hate-filled world of terrorism. And that will always be stronger than terrorism,” she said.
Special correspondent Kington reported from Rome and Kirschbaum from Berlin.
ALSO
Berlin attack suspect’s fingerprints in truck suggest he drove it
Death toll rises to 12 in possible terrorist attack on Berlin Christmas market
Islamic State claims responsibility for Berlin attack, and police say they arrested the wrong man
UPDATES:
1:15 p.m.: Updated throughout with added quotes, description from Milan.
8 a.m.: This article was updated with reaction from German officials.
6:30 a.m.: This article was updated throughout with staff reporting.
2:15 a.m.: This article was updated with the Italian interior minister confirming that the slain man is Anis Amri.
This article was first published at 1:50 a.m.
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