Rome
A wanted terrorist pulled out a gun during an identity check this week, resulting in a shootout in which a police officer and the terrorist’s companion were killed. Nadia Desdemona Lioce, wanted in a 1999 murder, was arrested after she precipitated the shootout. Police killed her companion, Mario Gelesi, 37, who also pulled out a gun and fired. It was unknown who fired the bullet that killed the police officer. Lioce and Gelesi were members of the Red Brigade, a Marxist terrorist group founded in the 1970s that aimed to create a revolutionary state and wrest Italy out of NATO. During the group’s heyday in 1978, when it kidnapped and executed prominent politician Aldo Moro, it had hundreds of members and thousands of supporters. It’s believed to have few followers now. After her arrest, Lioce immediately declared herself a political prisoner.
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