MILAN (AP) – A 17-year-old high school student who admitted to stabbing his 12-year-old brother and parents had been struck by a general feeling of “nausea,” Italian prosecutors said Monday, adding that he has been unable to provide a motive to a triple murder that has shocked Italy.
The minor, whose name was withheld because of his age, was being held on suspicion of aggravated murder including premeditated murder.
The stabbing took place at 2am on Sunday morning in a Milan suburb after a family gathering for the father’s 51st birthday.
The youth took a knife from the kitchen and first went into the room he shared with the younger brother and stabbed him, according to prosecutors. When his mother came to investigate, he stabbed her and then the father, as he tried to give aid to the younger son.
All three suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck and throat, said Sabrina Ditaranto, a prosecutor who deals with juvenile offenders.
The suspect called the police and initially claimed he had only killed the father in self-defense and accused him of killing the mother and brother. He eventually confessed to all three murders.
“From a legal standpoint, we have no motive,” Ditaranto said at a news conference.
“He gives no logical and coherent explanation of what happened,” she added, saying he had referred to a general feeling of “nausea”, which was “his own” and not related to any family problems.
The murder has sparked a debate about the isolation of young people, after the pandemic and in an era dominated by social media. Ditaranto said they scoured the suspect’s social media and music usage, and no clear picture has emerged, beyond his description of feeling isolated.
It also comes after another stabbing death of a 33-year-old woman out on an evening walk near the northern city of Bergamo on July 30, in an apparently random crime. Prosecutors on Monday confirmed the detention of Moussa Sangare, 30, a one-time aspiring singer arrested nearly a month after the killing who told investigators he had chosen his victim at random.