She was about to enter the square, ready to go to work. The entrance to her office was now just a few steps away, not even ten meters. Then suddenly the slashes to her back and the flight of her attacker, who managed to strike at a moment when no one saw anything but was captured on camera immediately before and after the stab wounds. Piazza Gae Aulenti, the heart of the financial city of Milan, Monday morning: a few minutes to 9, the daily routine that begins again is shattered by the screams of a woman. When the first passersby come to her aid, she has a knife stuck in her back. The Carabinieri and the 118 emergency services arrived shortly after, having also been alerted by the security guards at the Unicredit Tower.
The 43-year-old woman was hospitalized with injuries to her spleen and lung.
The attack took place right there, under the tallest skyscraper in Milan, in the passageway that leads to Bosco Verticale through the Biblioteca degli alberi. It is one of the few sections of the entire complex of buildings, shops, and lawns without any commercial activities or office entrances. There are no shop windows or windows, and at the moment there are not even any witnesses. The victim, A.L.V., 43, a manager at Finlombarda, was transported in red code to the emergency room of the Niguarda hospital : her conditions are serious, she has injuries to her spleen and lung but she remained alert throughout. Taken under the care of specialists at the Trauma Center, she underwent surgery for about two hours. Her prognosis is guarded but she is reportedly out of danger.
Investigations into the woman stabbed in Gae Aulenti
Meanwhile, in Piazza Gae Aulenti, the Carabinieri from the Radiomobile and the Compagnia Duomo immediately got to work. Starting with a fundamental element: the surveillance cameras. One in the Unicredit Tower"looks" exactly towards the spot where the woman was found on the ground by the first to rescue her. But the investigators have at least two others available nearby. One captured at least a few moments immediately before and after the assault, which was rapid and happened from behind, so much so that the woman was unable to provide any details: she realized she had been attacked only after the attacker had already fled. However, traces of the man remain in the footage, whom the Carabinieri are now hunting.
The attacker caught on camera
A blue jacket, K-way style, dark trousers, a shopping bag in his right hand and a backpack over his shoulders: this is how the alleged attacker appears in the frames extracted by the Carabinieri, fair complexion and apparent age of 50 years. From an initial reconstruction, when the woman arrived he hit her in the back and then walked away without increasing his pace: a “quiet” escape in which, for now, he has managed to disappear without a trace.
The attack took place a few meters from his office
The woman was on her way to work at the Lombardy Region finance office, where she was responsible for the Credit Arrangement and Disbursement sector. She got off the green metro line at the Gioia stop and crossed the park before arriving at Gae Aulenti. A few meters from the office, she was attacked with a large kitchen knife. Her husband, notified a few minutes later, arrived on the scene and reported that there were no problems between the couple. The initial hypothesis being explored by Carabinieri investigators is that she was 'hooked' by the attacker while walking between the metro and the square, and that he then attacked her.
The witness: “He had the knife in his back”
“I was passing by and saw other people helping her and I stopped: seeing this woman with a knife stuck in her back was shocking – a witness recounted – Arriving at work early in the morning and finding yourself faced with a scene like this, the first thing that comes to mind is you can't stay calm. This is an office area, but even for the residential part it's quite 'elevated' so it's strange”.
