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A rookie Italian police officer shot Europe’s most wanted terrorist to death, Berlin truck terrorist Anis Amri, Friday during a routine stop in Milan.
Authorities said the shootout took place at about 3 a.m. Friday after two police officers came upon Amri during a routine patrol in the Milan suburb of Sesto San Giovanni in the northern Italian city of Milan.
Anis Amri, the suspect in the Berlin attack, was killed by the police in a shootout outside Milan, officials said https://t.co/mlM6jwiTyh
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 23, 2016
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Amri was standing alone on a piazza near a subway terminal when officers asked him for identification, said Antonio De Iesu, director of the Milan police.
Amri, speaking Italian, told police he had no documents with him.
When they asked him to empty his pockets and backpack, he pulled out a pistol.
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One officer was wounded in the shoulder. One account reported that Amri tried to flee but was pursued and shot dead by trainee officer Luca Scata, 29, who was only on the job for a few months.
Some accounts said that Amri screamed “Allah Akbar” (God is great) during the shooting. All accounts agreed he yelled, “police b——s” during the shootout.
Police had no idea Amri would be in Milan.
“It was a regular patrol, under the new system of intensified police checks on the territory,” De Iesu said. “They had no perception that it could be him, otherwise they’d have been more careful.”
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Anis Amri, suspect in Berlin truck attack, killed by Italian police. And how did he get to Milan? Open borders. https://t.co/8lhIr9qZem pic.twitter.com/OZXI2TEj7D
— David Wordsmith (@WordSmithGuy) December 23, 2016
Initial reports said Amri had arrived in Milan on a train from France, which would mean he cleared at least two European borders since fleeing Berlin Monday after the attack that killed 12 and wounded 48.
“How he traveled there and what he was doing there are subject to delicate investigations,” said De Iesu, director of the Milan police, said at a news conference. “We have to understand whether he was in transit or was awaiting someone.”
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni noted the importance of heightened security measures.
“What happened last night in Sesto San Giovanni clearly highlights the importance of an increased control of the territory — of the collaboration between security forces and armed forces, and the importance to increase collaboration also at the international level,” Gentiloni said.
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