Italian national charged with 2015 hold-up sought by police over Naxxar shooting

A 39-year-old Italian national is being sought by the police over a shooting which took place last month.

In a statement issued this morning, the police said that Damiano Alfio Rannisi Torrisi was a suspect in a shooting incident which took place in Triq Burmarrad in Naxxar on the 12 December, 2017.

Anyone with any information on his whereabouts is being urged to contact the police on 21 224 001 or 119, or to visit the closes police station.

One man was hospitalised in the incident which the police resulted from an argument between three men. The aggressor fled the scene of the crime in a car.

Magistrtae Claire Farrugia Frendo is leading the magisterial inquiry.

In 2015, Torrisi was charged with the hold-up of a Rabat outlet together with 37-year-old Sicilian national Alessandro Giuseppe Gandolfo. The latter was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison in May 2017 for his involvement in the hold-up, during which the shop owner had been grievously injured.

Gandolfo and Torrisi were charged of a €2,000 theft from the shop, during which they had held the owner against his will and even caused him grievous injury. They were also charged with carrying an unlicenced pointed weapon, wearing a mask in public, and in the case of Gandolfo, being in possession of cannabis resin.

Although Gandolfo denied the charges when first arraigned, his admission later on allowed an agreement with the Attorney General to request incarceration of six years and eight months. He was also ordered to pay €3,461 in court fees.