Moments of terror a stone's throw from St. Peter's Square while the Pope was reciting the angelus. A BMW carrying a 39-year-old Albanian citizen did not get stuck with a carabinieri patrol in piazza Sant'Uffizio, not far from via della Conciliazione, crowded with faithful. The soldiers of the Arma, after the fugitive also tried to overwhelm them with the car, fired a gunshot in the direction of the tires of the car.
The BMW did not stop and continued its mad rush towards via Gregorio VII in the direction of piazza Pio XI.
The driver threw his wallet and watch from the car and was intercepted by some police cars passing through the area which was followed by a chase.
The BMW was rammed by a police car and with two other steering wheels rushed to the place it was finally blocked: one of the two steering wheels was placed in the center of the roadway to block the escape routes to the BMW. The 39-year-old did not, however, give up: he locked himself inside his car, threatening the police. The policemen therefore had to break one of the glasses to extract it and block it also thanks to the use of the taser.
In obvious confusion, perhaps under the influence of drugs, the man was handcuffed and arrested for resistance to aggravated public official. The arrested man was taken to hospital as well as two officers who were injured in the pursuit.
Car checks were ordered while the 39-year-old's criminal record shows precedents for drugs, abuse in the family and injuries. On the basis of an initial reconstruction, before the car arrived in the Vatican area, a carabinieri patrol had already noticed the vehicle in the area of Corso Vittorio Emanuele that was wandering suspiciously. Most likely the Albanian citizen realized that he was being followed and began to accelerate until he took the side road that runs alongside the colonnade of the basilica, not stopping at the alt.