Italy: 6 People Robbed/Stabbed Near Milan Central Station

Milan is now known as Italy’s most crime-plagued city, and the place where a lot of the crime happens is the Central Train Station, a structure noted for its Fascist-style architecture going back to the Mussolini era. Today, a familiar scene played out. A North African man, apparently drunk and armed with a pocket knife, went on a robbing and stabbing spree. Before he was arrested, he had injured 6 people. It appears none of the 6 are in a life-threatening situation.

The below article from today’s Ansa.it is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.ansa.it/lombardia/notizie/2023/03/06/passanti-accoltellati-per-rapina-a-milano-alcuni-feriti_9eaecbf8-48dc-4cdd-899a-50f157650a5c.html

Passersby stabbed in robbery at Milan, 6 injured

Drunk man with a pocketknife knife arrested. The attacks around the station

March 6, 2023 23:40

Still more violence around the Central (train) Station of Milan, for some time now constantly the center of incidents of criminality day and night, and where in the afternoon, 6 passersby were injured, one seriously, following 4 robberies committed by a drunk man armed with a pocketknife, described as a young North African, subsequently arrested.

And perhaps, it is thanks to the short blade of the pocketknife, a multi-use type, that the worst was avoided.

At first, it seemed there were two attackers, but the National Police maintain that the arrested man acted alone, in different moments and places, causing fear and havoc in a central zone of the city and at a time when the sidewalks are full of people.

The final toll is 6 injured people, one of whom was treated at the scene, while the other 5 were transported to the hospital, 2 of them in serious condition: A 57-year-old, whose condition is not serious, and a 68-year-old, none believed to be in life-threatening condition. The most serious, the 68-year-old, is reportedly a witness who intervened to defend a girl (who was) robbed while in the company of her boyfriend on viale  (street) Brianza, at the exit gate of her home. According to what has been reconstructed by the Mobile Squad (police), at about 17:40, the man reportedly robbed a 39-year-old Italian woman at the Mortirolo underpass, using a knife to rob her of her cell phone. After that, on via Gluck (street), he reportedly robbed a Salvadoran citizen, taking his cell phone and ATM card. 

Shortly after that, the criminal reportedly committed another robbery on via Sammartini against a 34-year-old Spanish citizen, robbed of 20 euros and a cell phone. Next-again according to the charges- the man reportedly committed the 4th robbery on viale Brianza against a 24-year-old, from whom he reportedly stole credit cards. In this circumstance, three Italian citizens intervened in her defense, respectively, a 24-year-old (the boyfriend who was with her), a 68-year-old, and a 57-year-old, who reported suffering various injuries.

The alleged robber then managed to flee running along via Venini, where he attempted a final robbery against a 44-year-old when he was arrested by police motorcycle patrol officers from the National Police. He gave no resistance, and after being treated himself at the scene, was taken to jail awaiting interrogation. On his person, aside from the bloody pocket knife, he had the personal effects of the woman who was robbed on viale Brianza as well as 3 cell phones.

“Shocking news from my Milan, where the area of the Central Station is confirmed to be at grave risk. Only the heroic intervention of some citizens avoided the toll from being more dramatic,” was the comment from Vice Premier and Minister Matteo Salvini.