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13:49 AEST Sun Aug 1 2004
AP - A 10-day manhunt for the suspected killer of a policeman ended in bloodshed before horrified tourists in central Rome, where the fugitive grabbed a Frenchwoman at gunpoint before he was fatally shot by police, officers and witnesses said.
"What does it matter? I'm already dead, I'll kill her," Luciano Liboni yelled as police demanded he surrender outside a subway entrance, according to Carabinieri paramilitary police. The woman was unharmed.
Liboni, suspected of killing a policeman on July 22, had been spotted on Saturday morning and was surrounded by police near the Circus Maximus, an ancient Roman field that is a major Rome tourist attraction.
"Our man fired at Liboni, the lady instinctively dropped to the ground," Major Attilio Auricchio was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency Apcom.
"Her husband feared for his wife's life, but she got up right away, running toward her children."
Private TG5 TV news showed the mother-of-three looking shaken as she was taken away in a police car. A few metres away, a puddle of blood stained the pavement. On the ground was a black knapsack, which police said was Liboni's. It contained 33,000 euro ($A57,000), which police said they suspected came from robberies, and eight pairs of eyeglasses, which investigations said Liboni kept to change his appearance in a bid to avoid capture.
A few hours after the shootout, Liboni died of head wounds at San Giovanni hospital, where he had undergone surgery, surgeon Stefano Esposito told reporters.
Top Carabinieri officers at a news conference said Liboni fired five shots from his revolver at police near the subway entrance, and one of the two motorcycle police who had cornered him fired three shots at the fugitive.
A Roman woman, walking near Piazza Venezia in the heart of the Italian capital, had told police a few minutes earlier that she thought she had recognised Liboni heading toward Circus Maximus, a grassy field where the ancient Romans ran chariot races.
Liboni's photo had been shown on television almost daily since the July 22 slaying of the policeman during a routine check of identity documents in a town near the Adriatic Sea.
Rome has been gripped by news of the manhunt for Liboni since July 24, when police spotted him near the city's main train station. Then, the suspect escaped in a shootout by hijacking a car with a family inside. After a short drive, Liboni dashed from the car and into a subway entrance, disappearing until Saturday.
Liboni's ability to strike and flee earned him the nickname "The Wolf". He had been on the run for two years. Before the slaying of the policeman, he had been wanted for other shootings, and had a record of robberies.
©AAP 2004
AP - A 10-day manhunt for the suspected killer of a policeman ended in bloodshed before horrified tourists in central Rome, where the fugitive grabbed a Frenchwoman at gunpoint before he was fatally shot by police, officers and witnesses said.
"What does it matter? I'm already dead, I'll kill her," Luciano Liboni yelled as police demanded he surrender outside a subway entrance, according to Carabinieri paramilitary police. The woman was unharmed.
Liboni, suspected of killing a policeman on July 22, had been spotted on Saturday morning and was surrounded by police near the Circus Maximus, an ancient Roman field that is a major Rome tourist attraction.
"Our man fired at Liboni, the lady instinctively dropped to the ground," Major Attilio Auricchio was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency Apcom.
"Her husband feared for his wife's life, but she got up right away, running toward her children."
Private TG5 TV news showed the mother-of-three looking shaken as she was taken away in a police car. A few metres away, a puddle of blood stained the pavement. On the ground was a black knapsack, which police said was Liboni's. It contained 33,000 euro ($A57,000), which police said they suspected came from robberies, and eight pairs of eyeglasses, which investigations said Liboni kept to change his appearance in a bid to avoid capture.
A few hours after the shootout, Liboni died of head wounds at San Giovanni hospital, where he had undergone surgery, surgeon Stefano Esposito told reporters.
Top Carabinieri officers at a news conference said Liboni fired five shots from his revolver at police near the subway entrance, and one of the two motorcycle police who had cornered him fired three shots at the fugitive.
A Roman woman, walking near Piazza Venezia in the heart of the Italian capital, had told police a few minutes earlier that she thought she had recognised Liboni heading toward Circus Maximus, a grassy field where the ancient Romans ran chariot races.
Liboni's photo had been shown on television almost daily since the July 22 slaying of the policeman during a routine check of identity documents in a town near the Adriatic Sea.
Rome has been gripped by news of the manhunt for Liboni since July 24, when police spotted him near the city's main train station. Then, the suspect escaped in a shootout by hijacking a car with a family inside. After a short drive, Liboni dashed from the car and into a subway entrance, disappearing until Saturday.
Liboni's ability to strike and flee earned him the nickname "The Wolf". He had been on the run for two years. Before the slaying of the policeman, he had been wanted for other shootings, and had a record of robberies.
©AAP 2004