Shooting
On the morning of 11 November 2007, Sandri and four other friends were driving on the Autostrada A1, heading towards Milan to watch the football match between Inter Milan and SS Lazio scheduled for 3:00 pm at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in San Siro. The five, on board a Renault Mégane, stopped at the Badia al Pino service station near Civitella in Val di Chiana (Arezzo) to wait for the arrival of other friends, also coming from Rome in a Renault Clio. Around 9:00 am, the Lazio fans came into contact with some Juventus supporters and a fight broke out between the two groups. [4]
The scuffles attracted the attention of a patrol of the Highway Police (Polizia Stradale) who were on the opposite side of the road and who, having turned on the siren, moved to the other side of the road. While the group of Sandri's friends got back into the car and were about to leave, the officer Luigi Spaccarotella - according to his testimony, convinced that the four were fleeing following a robbery - got out of the service car, took aim and from a distance of about fifty metres fired two gunshots. [5]
The second bullet passed through the fence dividing the carriageways and hit the Mégane, which in the meantime had started moving, hitting Sandri in the neck, who was sleeping in the middle of the back seat. [4] The travelling companions immediately realised Gabriele's serious condition and therefore stopped at the next service station in Reggello, 30 km further on, to alert both the police and the emergency services. [4] The ambulance arrived on the scene but the young man was already dead. [4]
Reactions and consequences
The news spread and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) decided to postpone the match between Inter and Lazio: for the other matches, the start was ordered with a 10 minute delay. [6] For the following weekend, the FIGC ordered the suspension of serie B and serie C. Several stadiums were the scene of incidents, caused by fans protesting against the police. In Bergamo, the match between Atalanta and Milan was suspended after a few minutes due to the excesses of the Orobic supporters. [7] Other violent reactions occurred in Parma and Taranto. [6] In Lavello, Potenza, the Brindisi fans were the protagonists of some episodes of violence against the police and six Apulian fans were arrested, [8] while Milan and Rome were invaded by processions of fans who attacked the barracks and the police. [6] For reasons of public safety, the match between AS Roma and Cagliari scheduled for 20:30 in the capital was also postponed. [9] The worst of the violence was reported in Rome. [10] Windows were smashed and vehicles were set on fire. [11]
As an immediate measure, the FIGC expressed the idea of banning away matches considered to be the most dangerous and of making recognition mandatory at the entrance to stadiums. [12] The fan card (Tessera del tifoso) was then promoted in 2008, [13] although in the following years the problem of violence in stadiums and between fans was never completely resolved. [14]
Statuto [ it ] dedicated the song È già domenica to Sandri, released on the album of the same name [ it ] in 2010. [15]
Funeral
Sandri's funeral was held on 14 November 2007, in the Church of San Pio X in Balduina. [16] Thousands of people attended the ceremony, including the entire Lazio team, the captain of the Associazione Sportiva Roma, Francesco Totti and the coach Luciano Spalletti. [17] As the coffin was being carried out, some of those present chanted slogans against the police and scarves from other teams were left on the coffin. [18]
The legal proceedings
In July 2009, Spaccarotella was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment for manslaughter with conscious guilt: [19] the sentence was then reformed on appeal. [20] In December 2010 and changed to voluntary homicide, re-evaluating it to eventual intent, and increasing the sentence to 9 years and 5 months of imprisonment. [21]
In 2012, the Supreme Court of Cassation, to which Spaccarotella's defense had appealed, reaffirmed the second-instance verdict of the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Florence, confirming the conviction for voluntary homicide. [5] Ten years after the crime, in the autumn of 2017, he was granted semi-liberty, to be able to carry out voluntary work. [22]
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