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Three members of law enforcement lost their lives and more than a dozen people got wounded in an apparently premeditated blast caused by gas at a farmhouse in northern Italy.

Event Timeline

The detonation occurred as law enforcement and fire personnel approached the residence in the vicinity of the Verona region to enforce an court-ordered eviction for a brother and sister trio aged in their 50s and 60s.

All three officers killed belonged to the Italian military police.

Arrests and Aftermath

One male and one female were taken into custody at the site and a third person who fled following the blast was found shortly later. The trio have been admitted to medical facility.

The blast could be heard some 5km (3 miles) away and photographs from the location showed the structure left as a pile of rubble.

“This is a time for grieving,” said the Minister of the Interior Minister Piantedosi, who mentioned that efforts had been made to displace the brother and sister trio in the earlier times.

Background and Motive

The leader of the Veneto region, President Zaia, explained the residence was subject to an court order due to unpaid amounts accumulated by the three owners.

Negotiators had been assigned to talk with the siblings who had secured themselves into the property. When the police came just after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), authorities believe one of the siblings set off the blast.

“As we went inside, we encountered a completely deranged action,” provincial police commander Claudio Papagno informed reporters.

“A gas cylinder had been activated, and the explosion precisely impacted our members,” he added.

Incendiary devices were also discovered at the residence, the interior minister confirmed.

Impact Assessment

Those injured by the incident consisted of an additional 11 personnel of the Carabinieri as well as three members of national police and a firefighter.

According to the Verona prosecutor, the farmhouse was in a dilapidated shape and had lacked electrical service.

The official believed the explosion had taken place on a story above the doorway and informed the press it was a “premeditated and voluntary homicide”. Just prior to the blast, he revealed personnel had “heard a whistle, probably the gas cylinders being turned on”.

Community Reaction

“All of us understood the scenario was critical,” nearby inhabitants informed reporters, adding that the family members had previously threatened to “detonate the property” rather than vacate the property.

“The explosion had left a ‘terrible, very painful and dramatic toll’.”

The Defense Minister Guido Crosetto joined other political leaders in honoring the three officers who had lost their lives in the line of duty.