African shot dead in Florence, Italy

An Italian man shot an African street vendor to death on Monday 5 March in Florence, one of Italy’s most popular tourist destinations, police said. 

Police arrested the 66-year-old Italian who they said had fired six pistol shots at the 54-year-old Senegalese man as he was selling leather bags, umbrellas and trinkets near a bridge in the city.

However, police said a racial motivation for the Florence shooting had been ruled out.

Police confront African protesters on Monday evening, / Photo: Screenshot/Ruptly


According to the Italian press agency ANSA, which cited the police, the alleged shooter, “left his house Monday morning intending to kill himself … but then decided to shoot anyone who came his way in order to be taken to prison and not weigh on his family anymore.” A farewell note to his daughter has reportedly been found in his home.

Last month an Italian man with links to anti-immigrant party La Lega opened fire on African migrants in the city of Macerata, wounding six before he was captured, in what police said was a racially motivated attack.

In December 2011, an Italian gunman killed two street sellers from Senegal and wounded three other people in a racially-motivated shooting spree in Florence before committing suicide. Gianluca Casseri, 50, who Italian officials described as a right-wing extremist, parked his car in the crowded Dalmazia square at lunch time on the fateful day, got out and started shooting with a large pistol, witnesses reported.

Austin Ohaegbu with agency

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