ROME: An Italian paramilitary police officer, allegedly slain by two American teens in Rome, has been hailed as a hero at his funeral in his hometown near Naples.
Mario Cerciello Rega was fatally stabbed 11 times near the hotel where the Americans were staying while he was investigating a drug deal gone wrong. Monday’s funeral was held in the same church in Somma Vesuviana where he was married six weeks ago.
Italy’s military chaplain, Archbishop Santo Marciano, in his eulogy, said Cerciello Rega, 35, lived and died to safeguard others’ lives.
Californians Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, and Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, are jailed for investigation of the officer’s murder.
Police are investigating both Natale-Hjorth’s illegal blindfolding before his interrogation after Friday’s slaying and who leaked the photo of him blindfolded.
