Shooting at a rave party in Switzerland; the victim is a 22-year-old Italian woman. Manhunt underway. Meloni: “Let the full truth come to light”
The Aargau cantonal police are investigating the fatal shooting. Two Italians sustained minor injuries. The head of the cantonal police: terrorism is one of three possible motives. 9-millimetre cartridge cases, consistent with pistols and submachine guns, and cartridge cases from long guns, such as assault rifles, have been found. There may be a second perpetrator.
Key points
According to informed sources, the 22-year-old woman who died in the shooting during a rave party in Switzerland is Maria Spinelli, an Italian national. Among the five people injured, aged between 24 and 27, there are reportedly also two Italian women, who have already been discharged from hospital. The others are all Swiss nationals. The Crisis Unit at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is monitoring the situation in conjunction with the embassy in Bern and the consulate-general in Basel. The woman died at the scene as a result of her injuries, a police spokesperson told the media, as quoted by the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS.
Manhunt
Police operations are under way in Switzerland to identify the perpetrator or perpetrators of the shooting that took place at around 2.30 am last night at the end of a rave party at the Schachen racecourse in Aarau. The Aargau cantonal police have stated that they have ‘opened an investigation’ and have urged the public to ‘stay away from the area’, according to local media reports. The motives and exact circumstances of the shooting are not yet known, and the police have asked anyone with video footage or photographs to send them to the Aargau Cantonal Police’s Instagram account.
The terrorist angle is also being investigated
Three theories are currently being investigated regarding the shooting that took place at a rave party in Aarau, Switzerland. “The first is a terrorist attack, the second a mass killing, and the third a criminal act with a motive that is as yet unknown. Perhaps a settling of scores within a particular milieu.” This was stated by Michael Leupold, Chief of the Aargau Cantonal Police, at a press conference. The public prosecutor explained that the shooting is being investigated as a case of murder.
The police chief added that 9-millimetre cartridge cases – consistent with those from pistols and submachine guns – and cartridge cases from long guns, such as assault rifles, were found at the scene of the shooting. The number of perpetrators has yet to be established: ‘We know there is at least one person responsible,’ explained Leupold, who added that the police had also received reports of the possible presence of a second perpetrator, but the discovery of cartridge cases from two different types of weapon does not necessarily mean that two people were involved. “Not necessarily,” clarified the commander, explaining that “a single perpetrator could also have fired from two weapons.”
Rave organisers: ‘shocked’
The organisers of the rave in Aarau, Switzerland – where a shooting left one young Italian woman dead and five people injured – have expressed their shock in a statement published on their website. The message expresses sympathy for the victims and their families. “We are shocked, devastated and heartbroken,” reads the statement on the website aarauer-rave.ch. “This cowardly attack on those attending the Aarau rave has broken our hearts,” the organisers continued. “A rave should always be a place of joy and love. Never a place where people are killed, injured and left in fear,” they state. “Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and their friends.” The message – signed by “Livio, Alex, Maik and Olivier” – expresses gratitude to the police and the emergency services. As organisers, “we will do everything we can” to support the authorities in their investigation, it adds. The message concludes with an image of a broken heart.
