Sunday, May 18th saw Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visit people wounded in an incident in the northern city of Modena, where a driver ran over several pedestrians before crashing into a shop window.
Salim El Koudri—a 31-year-old Italian man of Moroccan heritage with a history of mental health problems—is suspected of striking multiple people in the city centre and colliding head-on with a woman. Authorities later said the case appears to be linked to the driver’s psychiatric condition.
Modena mayor Massimo Mezzetti said initial evidence suggested the driver had
deliberately driven onto the pavement, hitting several people.
He added that the suspect then emerged from the vehicle brandishing a knife before being subdued by passers-by. One man suffered minor injuries while attempting to stop him.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stated that the incident should not be misinterpreted. “For the moment, what is become most clear is that this personal situation is of a psychiatric nature,” he said after meeting officials at Modena city hall, adding
I’m not trying to minimize it. There are sometimes situations in which the reasons overlap that someone acts for terrorism or for outer reasons.
Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini later named the suspect on social media as Salim El Koudri. He added that the integration of second-generation immigrants in Italy had “failed”.
