Italian policewoman shoots teen son dead, kills herself

Grosseto (Italy), July 27 (IANS/AKI) The head of traffic police in the Italian coastal resort of Porto Santo Stefano shot her teenage son to death on Thursday before committing suicide with the same gun, police said.

Fifty-five-year-old widow Loredana Busonero, shot her 17-year-old son Francesco Visconti with her service pistol as he slept in his bed at the family home before turning the gun on herself, say police.

Police called to the scene by worried neighbours at around 8 a.m. found Busonero's body. Her son died before reaching hospital.

The scene of Thursday's tragedy was sealed off as police forensics officers gathered evidence.

"We didn't expect this, it's a real tragedy," said Mayor Arturo Cerulli was quoted as saying by regional daily Il Tirreno.

Busonero had suffered past health problems and had been deeply affected by the suicide of her father, which she saw as a "betrayal", the daily quoted Cerulli as saying.

Busonero had been at work the previous day and appeared her normal self, according to colleagues, it said.

Busonero was the widow of lawyer Marco Visconti, a former local mayor and ex deputy governor of the surrounding province of Grosseto, who died aged 56 in May 2015.

The police investigation of the murder-suicide is being spearheaded by prosecutors in Grosseto.

--IANS/AKI

vd