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Erminio CRISCIONE
Classification:
Spree killer
Characteristics:
Revenge
Number of victims: 6
Date of murder:
March 5,
1992
Date of arrest:
Same day
Date of birth: 1965
Victims profile: Coworkers
and their relatives
Method of murder:
Shooting
(Kalashnikov
automatic assault rifle)
Location: Rivera,
Origlio and Massagno,
Canton of Ticino, Switzerland
Status: Committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell
on March
7, 1992
Killed six people and wounded six others
by ringing doorbells and firing on victims as they answered the door.
Committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell a few days later.
Erminio Criscione
A mass murder from Lugano, Switzerland. Erminio Criscione was on a wholesale meat
suppliers training course when he snapped. One would think it fair to
assume that he didn't enjoy the company of his fellow trainees when
looking at his actions on the morning of March 5, 1992.
It seems Criscione had been having some trouble with
his work mates so he went out early one morning with his Kalashnikov
automatic assault rifle and visited his best friend and co-worker. When
he answer the door he was shot in both legs. No words were said, just
two bullets then Criscione was off.
He then travelled to another co workers house where he
shot and killed four members of the one family. He also injured three
others in this family.
He went on to kill two more workmates before reaching
his final destination, his boss's place. Unfortunatly for Criscione he
wasn't home, but his wife was. She copped two in the legs and was told,
"Tell him I'll be back" (in whatever language they speak in
Switzerland of course).
But he would not be returning to the house. Once back
in his car police surrounded him. In fact there were over 100 armed
police surrounding him.
Bizarrely he didn't kill himself at this time, which
would seem to be an even stranger act than the earlier murders.
Well anyway, he seemed to rethink his decision in
prison and two days later changed his mind and hung himself.
Man rings doorbells, opens fire;
six killed
San Jose Mercury News
March 5, 1992
A gunman killed six people and
wounded six others in a rampage near this picturesque southern town,
ringing doorbells and firing on victims as they answered the door,
police said today.
The 37-year-old man, identified as
Erminio Criscione, surrendered to police in tears after his two-hour
rampage Wednesday night in the villages of Rivera, Origlio and Massagno,
police said.
Six shot, killed in Swiss rampage
gunman rang victims' doorbells
The San Antonio Light
March 5, 1992
LUGANO, Switzerland -- Six people
were killed in one of the worst mass murders in Swiss history after a
gunman stalked through three villages in southern Switzerland and shot
residents as they answered their doorbells.
Toting a semiautomatic rifle,
Erminio Criscione, 37, burst in on one family as it ate dinner and shot
other victims on their doorsteps during the two-hour spree late
Wednesday, police said.
Door-to-door shootings kill 6 Swiss
Detroit Free Press
March 5, 1992
ZURICH, Switzerland -- A gunman with
an automatic rifle killed six people in a tiny Swiss village, going
house to house ringing doorbells and shooting the occupants point-blank,
police said Thursday.
The killer picked off his victims
Wednesday in a gruesome two-hour tour of the village of Rivera in
southern Switzerland near the Italian border. He also wounded four
persons, including a 5-year-old girl, in Rivera and two in nearby
villages.
Door-to-door gunman kills himself
in cell
San Jose Mercury News
March 10, 1992
The gunman who killed six people and
wounded six in a door- to-door rampage in southern Switzerland last week
has committed suicide, hanging himself in his jail cell, police in
Lugano said today.
Erminio Criscione, 37, used the time when his guards
were being changed Monday evening to tie a linen cloth to his window
bars, police said. The district attorney ordered an autopsy. Criscione
had been jailed since a Wednesday rampage in the villages of Rivera,
Origlio and Massagno near Lugano.
