A man invaded a bar in Fidene District, Rome, the Italian capital and shot three women to death including a friend of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Sunday.
Four other people were also injured in the shooting as they were inside having a meeting as part of a local apartment’s residents’ committee, according to BBC.
Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri described the shooting as a “grave episode of violence” and said he would attend an emergency meeting on the incident.
The 57-year-old suspect, Claudio Campi has been arrested and detained by the security operatives.
The report revealed that Campi has been in a series of rows with some of the committee’s board.
Luciana Ciorba, the committee’s vice president, who was at the cafe said the gunman had entered the bar and shouted, “I’ll kill you all” before using his pistol.
He was reportedly overpowered by other residents before being detained by police.
Of those people injured, believed to be two women and two men, one remains in a serious condition.
Meloni named one of the women killed as her friend Nicoletta Golisano while two other victims were identified as Elisabetta Silenzi and Sabina Sperandio.
Meloni, in her Facebook post, where she sent her condolences to Golisano’s family, said she would always remember her friend for being “beautiful and happy.”
“Nicoletta was a protective mother, a sincere and discreet friend, a woman strong and fragile at the same time.” she wrote.
“But above all, she was a professional with a sense of duty out of the ordinary… Nicoletta was my friend.”
“It’s not right to die like that,” she added. “Nicoletta was happy, and beautiful, in the red dress she bought for her 50th birthday party a few weeks ago. For me, she will always be beautiful and happy like that.”
Meloni also said that a shooting range from which the suspect had allegedly stolen the gun used in the attack had been closed and was under investigation.