Who is Mario Roggero?
On 28 April 2021, he responded to a robbery by chasing the fleeing criminals and firing his legally owned gun. Two of them died and one was injured.
Mario Roggero is a 72-year-old Italian jeweller from Grinzane Cavour (in the province of Cuneo), who has found himself at the centre of national news and public debate on self-defence following a dramatic robbery at his shop on 28 April 2021, during which he killed two robbers and injured a third.
On 15 July, the Court of Cassation upheld the request made by the Attorney General’s Office: it thus became final the sentence of 14 years and nine months. On Thursday 16 July, the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, initiated the preliminary investigation with a view to granting a pardon to Roggero.
“My brother will turn himself in as soon as the arrest warrant is made official. I don’t know where he’ll turn himself in,” explained Dante Roggero, Mario’s brother.
The robbery
On 28 April 2021, Roggero reacted to the robbery by chasing the fleeing criminals and firing his gun, which he held under a valid licence.
Two of them, Giuseppe Mazzarino and Andrea Spinelli, were killed, whilst the third, Alessandro Modica, the gang’s driver, was injured. The robbers had entered the jewellery shop armed with a toy gun and a knife.
