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Man facing bankruptcy guns down judge, lawyer and co-defendant in court

The man, named as Claudio Giardiello, 57, escaped on a scooter but was captured by police in Vimercate.

Updated 11pm

AN ARMED MAN on trial for bankruptcy fraud gunned down a judge, lawyer and co-defendant in a Milan court today in an attack which sent shockwaves through Italy.

The man, named as Claudio Giardiello, 57, escaped on a scooter but was captured by police in Vimercate, a town some 25 kilometres outside Milan.

“This is a moment of great pain, of sadness,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, adding that it was “unthinkable someone should be able to enter a court with a weapon.”

He promised “the government will shed the utmost light on the event” and described the police who had chased down and arrested the man as heroic.

The dead were named as judge Fernando Ciampi, and Giardiello’s former lawyer, 37-year old Lorenzo Alberto Claris Appiani, who was in court as a witness in the case.

Earlier reports from emergency services about a third person killed by a heart attack were corrected after it emerged the third person to die was one of Giardiello’s co-defendants, Giorgio Erba, who was also shot.

The attack “has sparked great alarm and concern throughout the country”, speaker Laura Boldrini told parliament.

Giardiello likely used a false pass to enter the court through a side door reserved for judges and lawyers, who are not obliged to have their belongings scanned by a metal detector, Milan public prosecutor Edmondo Bruto Liberati said.

He fired at his lawyer and one of his co-defendants during a hearing, before heading to the floor below, according to reports from court sources. There, he shot dead the judge, who had been trying to protect a female colleague.

Police said Giardiello fired 13 rounds in total. Two people were injured in the shootout and one is in a serious condition.

Giardiello was caught on video surveillance cameras fleeing the court and police traced him via his numberplate.

‘Ready to kill others’ 

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told a press conference it appeared the man “was ready to kill others in Vimercate,” following reports Giardiello had been heading towards another co-defendant, who was not present in court.

Valerio Maraniello, who once acted as a lawyer for the shooter, told AFP his ex-client was “an aggressive person, a little paranoid.”

“He was always convinced people were trying to cheat him. He never listened to advice,” he said, adding that he was “not completely surprised” by the deadly attack.

Leaders across the political sphere expressed shock that a gunman had managed to get into the court building.

“The fact that we’re not talking about an organisation which surveyed the place first makes it even more perturbing,” said the head of the Lombardy region, Roberto Maroni.

Alfano — in Milan for a meeting on public order and safety ahead of the 2015 Milan expo which opens in May — promised to investigate what he described as “serious errors” in security.

“If this is the level of security in Expo Milan imagine what potential terrorists can think of doing,” said Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigration Northern League party.

The sound of shots had sparked widespread panic, with lawyers bolting for the exit while police officers went floor to floor searching for the gunman, who was initially thought to be still inside the building.

“All of a sudden we heard at least three or four shots,” lawyer Marcello Ilia told AFP outside the court.

“There were suddenly lots of police officers who told us not to leave the room. They told us someone in a suit and tie was armed and at large in the court,” he said.

The Palace of Justice is in the historic centre of Milan, only a few streets away from the city’s cathedral and shopping district.

Giardiello owned 55 percent of a real estate company which went under in 2008, media reports said.

“I would never have thought he was that desperate, I’m shocked. I could never have imagined he would have been able to do such a thing,” his ex wife was quoted as saying.

© – AFP 2015

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    Mute Damocles
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    Jun 9th 2017, 6:41 AM

    Srsly? Wtaf?

    Dutch Elections, Wilders didn’t get a majority but the Dutch system makes majorities massively unlikely. He did make a massive gain though.

    French Elections, two candidates to the second round gaining more than 50% of votes were on European reform tickets.

    This is not an endorsement of Europe and a call for further integration.

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    Mute Rowe
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:23 AM

    @Damocles:

    Also the europhiles are conveniently forgetting Poland, Hungary, Czech Rep, Slovakia, who are not cow towing the EU line, thankfully

    195
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    Mute technoviking
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    Jun 9th 2017, 9:25 AM

    @Rowe: They’re also conveniently forgetting that the only countries to ever vote on European Constitution/Lisbon Treaty were France, Netherlands and Ireland. All rejected it but had it forced on them anyway.

    This is and never was an endorsement of European integration. Give people a vote tomorrow and they would more than likely leave.

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    Mute John R
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    Jun 9th 2017, 2:38 PM

    @technoviking: “Give people a vote tomorrow and they would more than likely leave”. Totally fanciful and utter nonsense. Most people support the EU across the Union. Where the soft support lies is in the level of integration they aspire to. So while I believe that there is strong support for the EU I don’t believe that necessarily translates into More Europe.

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    Mute John Dillon
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:35 AM

    This European Political analyst is just a mouthpiece for Macron and Merkel.Were they telling us Turkey was joining the EU a few short years ago.

    151
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    Mute Bairéid Rísteard
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:55 AM

    @John Dillon: we live in strange times.. Truth is lies, bad is good, backward is forward.

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    Mute Scundered
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:49 AM

    Certainly not a vote for Europe.

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    Mute Bennythekid
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:06 AM

    Europe has been good for Ireland and the young people who came out to vote in Britain yesterday were voting against Brexit.

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    Mute Titus Groan
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:26 AM

    @Bennythekid: No, it was many things actually. Brexit is not our be all and end all.

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    Mute Revolting Peasant
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:31 AM

    @Bennythekid: I don’t think anyone know what the Brits voted for yesterday, but life must be fairly desperate to see that result.
    Now sit back and watch all sorts claim it was a vote for this or that.

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    Mute Bennythekid
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:42 AM

    @Revolting Peasant: if those young voters had come out to vote on the Brexit referendum Britain would still be in the E U.

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    Mute Titus Groan
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:43 AM

    @Bennythekid: The young did vote in high numbers. Yours is a common misconception. I can get the actual statistics, if you like.

    32
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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Jun 9th 2017, 8:09 AM

    @Bennythekid: 60 odd billion of bank debt converted to souveign debt because Trichet wouldn’t allow bond holders to be burnt? Yeah…EU’s a dear old aunty to this country

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    Mute Bennythekid
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    Jun 9th 2017, 8:20 AM

    @Titus Groan: u can get all the statistics u like I have children living in the U K-they regret not voting in the referendum but they voted yesterday along with their friends in high numbers.It was an anti Brexit vote.

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello.
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    Jun 9th 2017, 8:26 AM

    @Titus Groan: Most important election in decades and one in four young people still couldn’t be bothered.

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    Mute Dave Kelly
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    Jun 9th 2017, 9:00 AM

    @Bennythekid: Eh Corbyn wasn’t exactly 100% against leaving the EU either, maybe check the facts

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    Mute Bennythekid
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    Jun 9th 2017, 9:28 AM

    @Dave Kelly: maybe he wishes they had stayed in now -Britains economy heading south sterling plunging-What a mess.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Jun 9th 2017, 10:32 AM

    @Bennythekid: actually Britains economy is doing very well, but sterling has fallen and been fluctuating a lot. Perhaps the fact you have children living there should tell you the economy is doing well. Again, facts and stats can be provided, but feel free to provide your own showing a decline in growth, a recession as such.

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    Mute Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:10 AM

    “endorsing more Europe, not less”, don’t think so, more a case of seeing Trump in power and seeing there is no point in voting the alternative, their all the same when they get their hands on power

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    Mute Rory Toner
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    Jun 9th 2017, 6:43 AM

    Shove your NWO. Frau Merle and your Lisbon agreements.

    183
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    Mute Bairéid Rísteard
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:21 AM

    What unabashed propaganda!

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    Mute TheHeathen
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    Jun 9th 2017, 8:32 AM

    @Bairéid Rísteard: ‘European Political Analyst’ – He used to be on the Journal spouting young FG horse excrement. Now he’s finished his college course he has progressed to ‘analyst’.

    106
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    Mute Bairéid Rísteard
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    Jun 9th 2017, 8:44 AM

    @TheHeathen: A cowardly ‘yes man’ in other words

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    Mute Celtic Spirit
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    Jun 9th 2017, 12:55 PM

    @TheHeathen: I remember that. Then said he was disillusioned with politics. He sent me friend request on FB a few years ago. For whatever reason, I don’t know.

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    Mute Steven C. Schulz
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:40 AM

    So, in summary: more Europe, except where it conflicts with out interest. Sounds like the same kind of picking and choosing that has resulted in the condemnation and withdrawal of Britain. Since those goals are mutually exclusive, this is either deliberately obtuse, or deliberately hypocritical.

    Seriously…

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    Mute Mise Éire
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    Jun 9th 2017, 11:38 AM

    Why did the article writer not declare his undying love of Fine Gael as has always been the case? It is necessary for journal.ie readers to know this when reading the article.

    32
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    Mute Ian Oh
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    Jun 9th 2017, 12:15 PM

    This article is blatant EU propaganda. If the EU wants different countries citizens appreciation and respect, it also should also show the same for its members. Also admit its faults like the continuously rising debt burden of every member state to the ECB. If they genuinely took steps to address, rectify and remedy the problems, then they might be taken seriously by the skeptics. Rail-roading over the protestations of the afflicted underdogs and window dressing that everything is great is not the way forward, especially when the EU’s idea of democracy is central control of power of all states by an unaccountable unelected elite collection of corrupt officials. And FG are no protector of Irish sovereignty or Irish interests either, just panderers to the elite untouchables. Not exactly a reassuring position for us unfortunately.

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    Mute Patrick J. O'Rourke
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    Jun 9th 2017, 3:51 PM

    The more Europe they push the more people will want less Europe. Why did we have to have political Union shoved down our throats when we could have just had the common market. Now they use that common market as a tool to blackmail or threaten countries. The commission and Eurocrats are the new Taleban.

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    Mute Shane Moynihan
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    Jun 9th 2017, 10:28 AM

    Macron is married to an old wan and they most probably had sexual relations with each other when he was underage. Fair creepy….

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    Mute Tariq Ibn Ziyad
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    Jun 9th 2017, 11:12 AM

    @Shane Moynihan: Creepy that you’re interested in that kind of thing maybe!

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    Mute Shane Moynihan
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    Jun 9th 2017, 7:36 PM

    @Tariq Ibn Ziyad: Lol no Tariz it’s common knowledge my friend xx

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    Mute Shane Moynihan
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    Jun 9th 2017, 11:18 AM

    Keep them OUT

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    Mute Anthony Gallagher
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    Jun 9th 2017, 12:49 PM

    When we live in a state that has done so much to undermine our own values ,why should we condemn the noble ideals of a europe that has helped turn one of europes poorest states into one of its richest .people have short memories ,yes europe is a successful viable political and economic entity ,the whingers forget the tragic past ,they forget the hard work that has been done and they castigate it whale they turn a blind eye to the deplorable shortcomings of our own legislature .ireland is a half way house but further integration is inevitable .eastern europe was a mess until the west gave it opportunity ,membership and political democracy ,lets not forget what great things it has achieved and lets welcome positive debate .Trump is a fraud ,he stands for nothing but division .

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    Mute Patricia Cooney
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    Jun 15th 2017, 11:41 PM

    It has pushed Islam.all around Europe.that all it has done.

    1
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