It was Saturday afternoon when a blue Dodge suddenly ran down the crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk. The area is packed every day with residents and tourists strolling and shopping, who are even more numerous at that time of the day, when many get there to enjoy sunset. Among them, a young Italian woman, Alice Gruppioni.
Security cameras show a man getting into his car and driving towards the crowd, hitting a group of people. Nathan Campbell, 35, original from Colorado, kills Alice.
She was visiting Los Angeles with her husband Christian Casadei, who is injured and is now recovering in hospital. The couple lived in Bologna, where they got married only a few days ago. This was their honeymoon, which was supposed to continue in Tahiti, but ended up tragically instead.
“It is an obnoxious and vile act” said Consul General of Italy Giuseppe Perrone, who visited Casadei in his hospital room. “This individual destroyed a life full of promises, right in its happiest moment, when Alice was about to start a new life with the person she loved.”
Alice was a general manager for the family business; her father, Valerio Gruppioni, was formerly president of the Bologna soccer team.
Besides her, eleven more people where injured. Campbell is now in custody of the Los Angeles Police Department. It is still unclear whether he was under the effect of drugs or alcohol, or if this was the intentional act of an insane person.
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