Ferdinand Gamper

Ferdinand Gamper (* September 12, 1957 ; † March 1, 1996 ) alias The Merano serial killer was a serial killer from Italy who probably killed six people in South Tyrol for nationalistic reasons .

Series of murders

Ferdinand Gamper was a shepherd who lived on the outskirts of Merano . On February 8, 1996, he shot and killed the 61-year-old German Bundesbank director Hans Otto Detmering and his 50-year-old Italian lover Clorinda Cecchetti in Merano. On February 14, 1996 he shot the 57-year-old farm worker Umberto Marchioro in the Merano suburb of Sinich. On February 27, 1996, he shot and killed 36-year-old Paolo Vecchiolini at close range in the center of Merano. The mayor of Merano, Franz Alber, then recommended a voluntary curfew. On March 1, 1996, he shot his 58-year-old neighbor Tullio Melchiori in the Merano suburb of Riffian . The police drove to Melchiori estate to question the family. They searched the house and came to the converted haystack next door, where Gamper was holed up. When the 54-year-old carabiniere Guerrino Botte opened the door to the barn, he was shot by the perpetrator. Gamper then opened fire on the remaining officers.

Death of Gamper

After around 100 police officers arrived at the scene, they used tear gas and set the small wooden house on fire. After the fire, the police found Gamper's body in the basement, he had killed himself with a shot in the forehead. A German Weihrauch brand hunting rifle , caliber 22 Magnum , with a sawed-off barrel was seized as the murder weapon .

Web links

• The serial killer from Merano shot himself. In: Berliner Kurier . March 2, 1996, accessed September 11, 2015 . 
• Hanspeter Oschwald: The shepherd's hatred. In: Focus . March 4, 1996, accessed September 11, 2015 . 
• Wolfgang David: Final at the hay barn. In: The time . March 8, 1996, accessed September 11, 2015 .