Milan Rogoredo: Four Police Officers Under Investigation for Pusher’s Death
The investigation into the death of 28-year-old Abderrahim Mansouri, a suspected drug dealer killed on January 26 during an anti-drug operation in Milan’s ‘boschetto’ of Rogoredo, has expanded. Four police officers are now under investigation for aiding and abetting and failure to render aid. This development comes as the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Milan continues to unravel the circumstances surrounding Mansouri’s death, for which officer Carmelo Cinturrino is already under investigation for voluntary manslaughter.
The Expanding Probe: New Suspects Emerge
Prosecutor Giovanni Tarzia, coordinating the investigation with Prosecutor Marcello Viola, has issued summonses to the newly implicated officers, who are scheduled for interrogation in the coming days. The decision to broaden the investigation stems from witness testimonies and surveillance footage from the drug-dealing area. The new allegations also include a suspected delay in calling for emergency medical assistance.
These complex findings are the result of weeks of intensive work by the Flying Squad and Forensic Police, including witness interviews, analysis of video footage, and ballistic reconstruction of the shooting dynamics and bullet trajectory.
Officer’s Account and Inconsistencies
According to initial reconstructions, one of the newly investigated officers was just meters away from Cinturrino, the officer who fired the fatal shot from approximately 30 meters, hitting Mansouri in the head and killing him almost instantly. This officer, from the Mecenate police station, had previously testified as a witness, reportedly corroborating Cinturrino’s version of events. However, he will now be re-interviewed with legal counsel present. The other three officers, who were reportedly further from the isolated area where the shooting occurred, may be questioned for the first time.
Cinturrino’s initial statement claimed: “When we got to about 20 meters, the person stopped. We identified ourselves, saying ‘stop, Police,’ and he pulled a weapon from his right pocket, pointing it at me. Meanwhile, I had opened my jacket and taken a step to start chasing him. I drew my pistol from my abdominal holster and fired a shot.” He added, “He (Mansouri, the suspected pusher) had his hand in his pocket, pulled out the pistol (later discovered to be a blank gun) and pointed it at me. As I was about to make a dash forward, I drew my weapon and fired a shot.” Examinations by forensics and ballistics experts are still ongoing to determine the bullet’s trajectory, the distance between the officer and the victim, and details about the toy weapon.
Autopsy Results and Legal Challenges
Inconsistencies have emerged from the evidence collected so far, leading to the new charges, including the alleged delay in calling for help. The initial autopsy results, performed on February 3, did not fully support either the officer’s claim of self-defense, represented by lawyer Pietro Porciani, nor the murder hypothesis put forth by the victim’s family’s lawyers, Debora Piazza and Marco Romagnoli. The autopsy confirmed that Mansouri was neither facing away nor fully frontal, but had his head slightly turned to the left, and the shot was believed to have been fired from about twenty meters away.
In a separate development, Prosecutor Viola and Tarzia have also opened another independent investigation into alleged ideological falsehood committed “by a public official in public acts.” This relates to an arrest report drafted in 2024 against a 20-year-old Tunisian, who was later acquitted, by the same officer under investigation for Mansouri’s death.
A Call for Accountability
“It is absolutely improbable, if not impossible, that Mansouri would have pointed a fake gun at an armed police officer unless he wanted to commit suicide,” commented civil party lawyer Debora Piazza, who, along with colleague Marco Romagnoli, represents Mansouri’s family. “At the end of this affair,” she continued, “many, starting with politicians, will have to collectively apologize to the Mansouri family for having labeled him a delinquent and deserving of death, and for having established that it was a case of self-defense and that there was no need to even investigate.”
Further Readings:
- Who was Abderrahim Mansouri, known as “Zack,” the 28-year-old killed in Rogoredo: the many aliases, escapes, and the clan based in Corvetto by Pierpaolo Lio
- Milan Rogoredo, the policeman who killed the 28-year-old: “I wanted to chase him, but he pointed the gun at me and I shot” by Redazione Milano
- The story of Rogoredo, the dream of bringing the Po to Milan submerged by a river of heroin. The railway, corporate buildings, and the boschetto by Elisabetta Andreis
Source: Investigatory journalism, witness testimonies (anonymous), official police statements, autopsy reports, and internal documents provided by sources close to the investigation.
