ROME — Two teenage American tourists were arrested on Saturday and accused of murder and attempted extortion in the fatal stabbing of a military police officer in Rome, Italian officials said.

The teenagers, identified as Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 18, both born in San Francisco, were accused of stabbing the officer, Deputy Brig. Mario Cerciello Rega of Italy’s military police, or carabinieri, on Friday morning. The officer had tried to recover a backpack the two men were accused of stealing a few hours earlier, officials said.

The suspects have admitted to the crime, according to a statement by the carabinieri press office.

The killing of the 35-year-old officer, who had recently returned to work after his honeymoon, shook Italians and spurred front-page newspaper headlines. “Rome, violent city. Carabiniere murdered” was the headline emblazoned on the Roman daily Il Tempo. The front page of another newspaper, Il Messaggero, read: “Killed to defend Rome,” while La Repubblica wrote, “Carabiniere killed in Rome’s drugland.” </s> ROME — Two teenage tourists from San Francisco were arrested Saturday and accused of murder and attempted extortion in the fatal stabbing of a military police officer in Rome, Italian officials said.

The teenagers, identified as Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 18, both born in San Francisco, were accused of stabbing the officer, Deputy Brig. Mario Cerciello Rega of Italy’s military police, or carabinieri, on Friday morning. The officer had tried to recover a backpack the two men were accused of stealing a few hours earlier, officials said.

The suspects admitted to the crime, according to a statement by the carabinieri press office.

The killing of the 35-year-old officer, who had recently returned to work after his honeymoon, shook Italians and spurred front-page headlines. “Rome, violent city. Carabiniere murdered” was the headline emblazoned on the Roman daily Il Tempo.

The two Americans were arrested at a four-star hotel room in the Prati neighborhood of Rome on Friday as they were getting ready to leave the country, according to the carabinieri press office.

The statement said officers found “a knife of considerable size,” believed to be the weapon used to kill Cerciello Rega, hidden behind a panel in the hotel room ceiling, along with clothes that the men had apparently worn during the attack.

A military police spokesman said the crime had unfolded after the two Americans approached an Italian man asking where they could buy drugs, and he indicated a seller nearby. The spokesman said the Americans bought drugs, but “according to what they say, they weren’t real drugs,” so they sought out the seller to get their money back.

When they couldn’t find him, the spokesman said, they returned to the first Italian man and stole his backpack, which contained his cell phone. Later, when the man called his phone, the Americans demanded “100 euros and a gram of cocaine” for its return, police said.

They made an appointment to meet near the hotel where the two men were staying. The victim of the theft called the carabinieri, and two plainclothes officers went to the meeting in his place.

A fight ensued, and Elder then stabbed Cerciello Rega eight times, police said.

Elder’s lawyer, Francesco Codini, said in a phone interview that the two teenagers had availed themselves of the right to remain silent during a court hearing on Saturday. A judge in Rome must rule on whether to confirm the arrest.

Asked how his client, whom he first met Saturday morning, was doing, Codini replied, “Not well.” Elder does not speak Italian, said the lawyer, who declined to address his client’s purported confession.

The suspects are being held in the Regina Coeli prison. A lawyer for the younger man could not immediately be reached for comment.

readFull Witnesses and surveillance video cameras soon put the carabinieri on the trail of the Americans. They were tracked from their first encounter with the Italian with the backpack in the Trastevere neighborhood to a street where they were running with the backpack in hand. Some Italian news outlets linked the killing to Rome’s underground drug trade and to bigger operations that finance other illicit trafficking. Other reports wondered why the officer and his partner did not use their firearms during the encounter. Others asked why the two carabinieri did not wait for backup, as protocol would suggest. The Italian affiliate of the broadcaster Sky News reported that the funeral of Cerciello Rega will be held Monday in the city of Somma Vesuviana, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, at the same church where he was married less than two months ago. </s> (CBS) – Two American teenagers have been implicated in an Italian policeman’s murder and are being held pending formal charges, Italy’s Carabinieri police force said Saturday.

The two, both 19 years old, “confessed their deeds” after an Italian paramilitary policeman was fatally stabbed in Rome on Friday while investigating the theft of a bag with a cellphone. Elder Finnegan Lee and Christian Gabriel Natale Hjorth are being detained for aggravated murder and attempted extortion, correspondent Seth Doane reports.

A 35-year-old newlywed Carabinieri officer, Mario Rega, was stabbed to death on a Rome street early Friday morning. The Carabinieri said their investigation reveals that shortly before the murder, the two young men stole a backpack from an Italian man, and then threatened him during a phone call that they would not return the backpack unless they were given 100 euros and a gram of cocaine.

The man reported the incident to the Carabinieri, who came to the meeting to stop the criminals. But a scuffle unfolded, and the Carabinieri officer was stabbed to death.

Law enforcement found the Americans in their hotel room at Le Méridien Visconti, ready to leave Italy. Police say they searched the room and found the murder weapon – a “knife of considerable size,” hidden behind a ceiling panel.

Populist politicians have taken to social media today railing against “foreign animals” being allowed in Italy.

Rega, the slain officer, was from Somma Vesuviana, Italy. He did volunteer work with the poor, accompanied sick people to Catholic shrines, and brought meals to the homeless at Rome’s main station. His funeral on Monday will be at the same church where he was married just 43 days ago.

The two Americans are reportedly from California. A lawyer for one of the men was spotted arriving at Regina Coeli, the Rome jail where they are being held.

A preliminary hearing is being held to determine whether to formally charge them. </s> In this photo released by Carabinieri, is portrayed officer Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, who was stabbed to death in Rome early Friday, July 26, 2019. Italian police said Saturday that two 19-year-old American tourists have confessed to fatally stabbing the Italian paramilitary policeman who was investigating the theft of a bag with a cellphone.

ROME (AP) — The Latest on two Americans in custody over the killing of a policeman (all times local):

An Italian detention order says two American teenagers from California are being held in jail for investigation of murder in the fatal stabbing of a police officer.

The detention order was displayed on Italian state broadcaster RAI and it named the two suspects as Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth and Finnegan Lee Elder. The order says they were both born in San Francisco in 2000. Police confirmed that the detention order shown on state TV was authentic.

Both are suspected in the fatal stabbing of 35-year-old officer Mario Cerciello Rega after a drug deal gone wrong. They are also being investigated for attempted extortion.

Elder’s lawyer, Francesco Codini, said his client exercised his right not to respond to questions during a detention hearing held Saturday in the Rome jail where the two teens are being kept.

The judge hasn’t ruled if they will be kept in jail beyond an initial three-day period.

Italian police say two young American tourists have confessed in the fatal stabbing of an Italian paramilitary policeman investigating the theft of a bag with a cellphone.

In a statement Saturday, Carabinieri officers investigating the death Friday of officer Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, said the Americans, both 19, have been detained for alleged murder and attempted extortion.

Separately, an investigator who declined to be named said the two had snatched the bag of a drug dealer in Rome who had given them “a different substance” instead of cocaine.

The Carabinieri said the Americans demanded a 100-euro ($112) ransom and a gram of cocaine to return the bag. The man called police, saying he had arranged a meeting with the thieves to get his bag back. There was a scuffle at the meeting and the policeman was stabbed to death. </s> Two US teenagers held over killing of Italian cop

ROME: Two US teenagers appeared at a court hearing in Rome on Saturday after being arrested over the murder of an Italian police officer whose death has sparked a national outcry.

Officer Mario Rega Cerciello died after being stabbed eight times as he and a colleague tried to arrest two men following a complaint for theft. Cerciello, 35, had only recently returned from his honeymoon.

His killing took on a political aspect when the country's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, responding to initial reports that the suspects were North African, denounced the killers as "bastards". Police said they arrested the two American teens on Friday as they were preparing to check out of their Rome hotel and fly home.

Prosecutors have charged them over the killing, which occurred in the small hours of Friday morning in Rome´s city centre. Media reports citing the police have named the two suspects as Christian Gabriel Natale Hjorth and Elder Finnegan Lee, both aged 19.

One of them has confessed to the killing but said that he did not realise that Cerciello was a police officer because both the officers involved were in plain clothes, according to Italian media reports, citing the police.

The incident happened in an up-market neighbourhood near Vatican City. A statement from Italian police said that the two Americans had confessed to stealing a bag from an Italian. They were demanding 100 euros ($111) and a gramme of cocaine for its return.

The victim of the theft tipped off the police, but when the two officers went to arrest the pair, one of them pulled a knife. Italian media reports, citing investigators, said that the two US teenagers told police that the man they had stolen from had sold them aspirin powder instead of cocaine.

The suspect who confessed to stabbing Cerciello said he had taken the officers for friends of the alleged dealer and had panicked. </s> Rome (CNN) Italian police have launched an investigation into a shocking image that shows one of the two young Americans arrested over the killing of an Italian police officer , blindfolded at a police station in Rome.

The image was leaked to the respected Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera.

Italian police have confirmed the authenticity of the photo, and told CNN that a two-pronged investigation has been launched into both why the suspect was blindfolded -- and who leaked the photo to the press.

"The general command of the Carabinieri police strongly distances itself from the photo and the distribution of the photo of the people detained for the homicide of the Officer Mario Cerciello Rega. The provincial Carabinieri command of Rome is quickly carrying out investigations to locate who is responsible," police said in a statement Sunday.

The two Americans, Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Natale Hjorth, 18, were arrested while on vacation in Rome in connection with the murder of Italian police officer Mario Cerciello Rega on Friday, Italian police told CNN Saturday.

Officer Rega, 35, was stabbed eight times at 2 a.m. local time on Friday, in the Prati neighborhood of Rome, near the hotel where the two young men were staying, police said. He was declared dead at 4:30 a.m.

Surveillance footage and witness testimonies had allowed the Capitoline Investigative Unit to identify the two responsible for the "heinous crime," according to the police statement.

The two Americans, both from San Francisco, were arrested inside their hotel room in Rome.

Police allege the boys stole a backpack from a man whom they had approached about buying drugs. The order and details of what happened next are still being investigated. However, police allege the Americans stole the backpack because they were sold crushed aspirin instead of cocaine.

The teenagers subsequently answered the owner's cellphone, which they had also taken, and told him "they would not return the backpack without 100 euros and 1 gram of cocaine," police added.

After police were contacted by the owner of the stolen bag, officers met the American suspects under the guise of retrieving the backpack, police said.

Both the Americans are accused of assaulting the police officers, who reportedly identified themselves as law enforcement officers. Then one of the suspects took out a knife and stabbed the officer eight times before fleeing the scene, police said. The officers were unarmed, police added.

The Carabinieri police force said in a statement that the Americans were arrested Friday night for "the crime of aggravated murder and attempted extortion."

Police allege both Americans confessed to taking part in the assault, and say Elder confessed in the early hours of the interrogation on Friday to murder.

Elder's public prosecutor appointed lawyer, Francesco Codini, said that during his court appearance Saturday his client had "maintained his right to remain silent" in front of a judge.

In a statement to CNN, Elder's family said: "We write as a family to express our deepest condolences to the grieving family and community that loved Brigadier Cerciello Rega. We are shocked and dismayed at the events that have been reported, but have very little independent information about these events."

Elder's family added that haven't been able to have any communication with their son, so far, and appealed to the public to respect their privacy.

Italian police can legally hold the suspects for an entire year without official charges.

Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini commented on the blindfold photo Sunday, saying in a statement: "To those complaining about the blindfolding of the arrested, remember that the only victim to cry for is the man, the son, the husband who is 35 years old, a Carabinieri officer, a servant of the homeland who died in service at the hands of the people who, if guilty, deserve only life imprisonment."

The day before, Salvini had called for life-long prison sentences for the accused teens, despite them not having even been put on trial.

"Hoping that the murderers of our poor policeman will never get out of prison, I remind the do-gooders that in the United States whoever kills risks the death penalty. I'm not saying we should go that far, but life in prison (obviously working), this, yes!" Salvini wrote in a message on Twitter on Saturday.

Slain police officer Rega had only recently returned to work from his honeymoon after getting married on June 13 in his hometown of Somma Vesuvianna, near Naples.

A wake will be held for him Sunday evening at the chapel of Piazza Monte di Pieta, Rome, near the police station where he was based. His funeral will be held Monday in the same church where he was married. </s> Two 19-year-old Americans have been arrested while on vacation in Rome over the murder of an Italian police officer Friday, Italian police told CNN Saturday.

The Carabinieri police force said in a statement that the pair were arrested Friday night for “the crime of aggravated murder and attempted extortion.”

Police named the suspects as Christian Gabriel Natale Hjorth and Elder Finnegan Lee, and said both were from San Francisco. Photos of the pair have not been released.

Italian police officer Mario Cerciello Rega was stabbed eight times at 2 a.m. local time on Friday, in the Prati neighborhood of Rome on Via Pietro Cossa, near the hotel where the two young men were staying, police said. Officer Rega was declared dead at 4:30 a.m.

The police statement said surveillance footage and witness testimonies had allowed the Capitoline Investigative Unit to identify the two responsible for the “heinous crime.”

The two Americans were arrested inside their hotel room in Rome.

“They were already ready to leave the country,” police said. “During the search of the hotel room, which was occupied by the two detainees, the murder weapon was found and seized, a knife of considerable size, cleverly hidden behind a ceiling panel, as well as the clothes worn during the crime.

“The two, once at the station, were interrogated by the Carabinieri, under the direction of the magistrates of the Public Prosecutor of Rome, in the face of overwhelming evidence, they confessed to the charge.”

Only one of the men is accused of stabbing the officer, but both admit to taking part in the fracas, police said.

Police also noted that the Americans had stolen a backpack from an Italian citizen shortly before the murder. The suspects subsequently answered the owner’s cellphone, which they had also taken, and told him “they would not return the backpack without 100 euros and 1 gram of cocaine,” police added.

After police were contacted by the victim, officers met the American suspects under the guise of retrieving the backpack.

They subsequently identified themselves as law enforcement officers, upon which one of the suspects took out a knife and stabbed the officer eight times before fleeing the scene, police said.

The police said that the pair “did not hesitate to engage in a scuffle which culminated in the tragic deadly wounding of Mario Rega Cerciello.”

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far right interior minister, expressed his condolences over the officer’s death. “Mario, a police officer, a hero, a boy with all his life ahead of him, who had been married for just 40 days,” he wrote on Twitter. “How much sadness, how much anger. A prayer, a hug to his loved ones.”

Italian state police (Polizia di Stato, in Italian) also paid tribute to the murdered officer shortly after news of his death emerged, with a number of police cars sounding their sirens outside the Carabinieri headquarters in Rome.

Lee “has maintained his right to remain silent,” his lawyer Francesco Codini told media outside Rome’s Regina Coeli prison. “Looking at the circumstances, it doesn’t seem right to do interviews also because an officer is dead and for respect of the family, I would stop here.”

The US State Department said Saturday it is aware of the arrests.

“We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular services in cases where US citizens are detained or arrested abroad,” the State Department said in a brief statement to CNN.

The investigation into the officer’s murder is ongoing. </s> • Two American tourists admitted to the fatal stabbing of an Italian military officer, but not before accusing each other of the crime, NBC News reported of police documents.
• Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 18, were first accused of stabbing the officer on Friday morning in what has since been reported to be a drug bust gone wrong.
• Rega was stabbed eight times and left on a street close to the teens’ upscale hotel near Rome’s Tiber River.

Two American tourists admitted to the fatal stabbing of an Italian military officer, but not before accusing each other of the crime, NBC News reported.

Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 18 were first accused Friday morning of stabbing Deputy Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega of Italy’s military police, or Carabinieri.

Rega was reportedly stabbed eight times and left on a street close to the teens’ upscale hotel near Rome’s Tiber River.

When they were interrogated separately, both of the suspects blamed the other for the stabbing, according to a document viewed by NBC, though Elder recognized the large knife that was seized from their hotel room as his own and confirmed it was the murder weapon.

According to reported statements by police, the killing of the 35-year-old officer, who had recently returned to work after his honeymoon, was the result of a drug deal gone awry.

Elder and Hjorth had bought drugs from an Italian man but found “they weren’t real drugs,” and went to get their money back, The New York Times reported, citing police.

However, they couldn’t find the seller, the Times reported, so they instead confronted a different Italian man, who had pointed out the seller, and stole his backpack, with his phone inside. When the man called his phone to recover his bag, the teens demanded “100 euros and a gram of cocaine,” police reportedly said.

The three then agreed to meet near the Americans’ hotel, police told the Times, and the man missing his backpack called the carabinieri, so two plainclothes officers went to the meeting in his place.

The officers tried to recover the backpack but a fight ensued, which is when police reportedly said Elder stabbed Rega eight times.

Natale Hjorth, who can understand Italian, told investigators that officer Rega identified himself as a Carabinieri officer while on the phone, but Elder, who doesn’t speak the language, said the officer did not, according to the report.

Rega is reportedly expected to be buried on Monday.

Elder’s family reportedly released a statement that said, “We are shocked and dismayed at the events that have been reported,” adding that they had not been in touch with the teen. “We write as a family to express our deepest condolences to the grieving family and community that loved Brigadier Cerciello Rega.”

Both Elder and Natale Hjorth are being held in isolation and are deemed a flight risk because they are foreign citizens, NBC reported, adding that it is unclear when the next hearing will be held.

Another blue lake is drawing in Instagrammers, but it’s actually a toxic dump that causes rashes and digestive problems

A cruise ship passenger in a clown suit reportedly sparked a violent fight where families used furnitures and plates as weapons against each other

A New York man was arrested at JFK Airport en route to join Taliban, according to authorities </s> Two Americans arrested in connection with the death of an Italian paramilitary officer had blamed each other for committing murder, court documents sent to reporters show.

Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, and Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, both from Mill Valley, California, were detained by police in Rome on Friday for alleged homicide and attempted extortion.

Police have said the pair had a violent encounter with two plainclothes members of the storied Carabinieri paramilitary corps, after having stolen a backpack from an Italian national and demanded money and a gram of cocaine in exchange for its return.

On Sunday, police released audio files of two calls with the Italian national who allegedly had his backpack stolen. He alleged he had spoken to the people who stole his bag by calling his cellphone, which had been inside the bag, adding that the suspects demanded money for the return of his belongings.

The dispatcher agreed to send an officer to meet the victim.

Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, who had just returned to duty a few days earlier from his honeymoon, was dispatched on Friday to meet with the Americans as part of the investigation, authorities said.

A detention order says Natale-Hjorth, who can understand Italian, confirmed that Rega identified himself as a Carabiniere officer. Elder, who doesn't speak the language, denies the officer revealed who he was.

The encounter quickly turned deadly with a violent struggle that resulted in Rega's stabbing. The pair then fled to their hotel room at the four-star Le Meridien, where police found them hours later, the order says.

When separately interrogated, each suspect blamed the other for the stabbing, according to the document. However, Elder had recognized the weapon — a large knife seized from their hotel room — as his own and also confirmed it was the murder weapon, the document says.

The detention order requires the men to be detained in isolation and forbids them from meeting. It also deems them a flight risk because they are foreign citizens.

A leaked photo that appears to show one of the men in police custody, blindfolded and handcuffed while sitting with his head bowed, is being investigated by police.

In a phone interview with the Associated Press, Provincial Cmdr. Francesco Gargaro confirmed the photo's authenticity and added that blindfolding a suspect is illegal.

The officer who put the blindfold on committed a “mistake” but did so to prevent Natale-Hjorth from seeing documents related to the investigation, the commander said. The officer has been transferred to a different unit.

Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini tweeted that anyone concerned about the treatment of those arrested should remember the only real victim is the officer who died. He added that if the suspects are found guilty, they deserve life in prison.

Elder's family issued a statement Sunday saying that they had not been able to contact their son since he called after his arrest. The family said they were working with the State Department to try and gain access to their son and that he was being represented by an Italian public defender.

"We plan to go to Rome as soon as the State Department assures us we will be able to see our son," the statement said. "We are also aware of the funeral plans for Officer Rega, and wish to be respectful of his family and friends at this devastating time."

Rega is expected to be buried on Monday after a public viewing is held on Sunday. It is unclear when the next court hearing will be scheduled.
Two American teenagers are arrested in Rome for extortion and murder of an Italian military officer.