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Wedding photographer shot dead as couple pose with guns

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G

Gaborn

Member
An official photographer was shot dead at an Italian wedding while the bride and groom were posing for pictures with a gun.

Guests were horrified when the firearm went off accidentally, killing photographer Calogero Scimeca, a 45-year-old married man with children.

The bullet hit him in the head, killing him instantly, police said.

The .22 calibre rifle was one of several firearms which the bride and groom, Valentina Anitra, 22, and Ignazio Licodia, 25, were supposed to pose with on their big day in the village of Altofonte, near Palermo in Sicily.

Firearms are often fired at weddings and festivals in southern Italy and powerful fireworks are also popular, causing dozens of injuries a year.

Police are now deciding whether to bring charges of negligence against the groom's parents, Mario, 56, and his wife Rita, because the accident happened at their house shortly before the scheduled wedding ceremony.

They allegedly fetched the rifle when the photographer suggested that using some guns as props would make for a memorable wedding album.

It was properly licensed and used for shooting wild boar and other game in the surrounding hills.

Carabinieri officers said they were struggling to establish exactly how the accident happened because most witnesses had been extremely reluctant to talk, in a region of Italy in which 'omerta' – the code of silence – still reigns.

They have yet to ascertain who was holding the rifle when it went off.

The wedding was immediately cancelled, with the bride and groom and their guests said to be "distraught".

The weapons were confiscated and are being investigated by police ballistics experts at Messina, in eastern Sicily.
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Story Here
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Why pose for your wedding pictures with a gun?

Why pose for your wedding pictures with a loaded gun?

Why pose for your wedding pictures with a loaded gun and point it at somebody?
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
The wedding was immediately cancelled, with the bride and groom and their guests said to be "distraught".
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I like to think I'd be more than "distraught" if I'd killed someone through an act of irresponsibile iredeemable stupidity,
 
B

Birbo

Member
I've heard of shotgun weddings before, but...

Edit: Damn you Jarlaxle!

Seriously though, prayers for the family of the photographer.
 
L

Liferebooted

Banned
Mama Robotnik said:
Why pose for your wedding pictures with a gun?

Why pose for your wedding pictures with a loaded gun?

Why pose for your wedding pictures with a loaded gun and point it at somebody?
Click to expand...
Every single question was answered right in the article.
 
K

Keyser Soze

Member
Shotgun%20reluctant%20groom%20mis.jpg
 
JetBlackPanda

JetBlackPanda

Member
Italy huh?

anyways.. Gun safety is priority number one, anyone that fails to acknowledge this fact will end up killing themselves or someone else.

so sad

DonMigs85 said:
I bet the idiots musta pulled the trigger instinctively. Or the gun was dropped and fired off a round.
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99% of guns cannot go off when dropped and there should never have been a live round in the gun to accidentally pull the trigger..
 
D

Dali

Member
Anerythristic said:
Wow, I really thought this would be a USA back country story. I feel really bad for the deceased.
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Say what you will about America and its guns, but it seems like accidents like this and the guy that vegetablized himself in Russia are limited to kids and crazies over here.

Treat every gun as though it's loaded and don't point it at anything unless you intend to shoot it is instilled into backwoods people that grow up with hunting rifles.
 
JetBlackPanda

JetBlackPanda

Member
just to add - it seems the photographer thought it would be a good idea to grab the gun and take a picture with it, so obviously the gun was just grabbed and the people were not properly trained, also it was a .22 add another one to the list so many people die because they think oh its just a .22
 
D

Dali

Member
ShinAmano said:
Wouldn't figuring out who did it be pretty easy? I don't know maybe see who the last picture was on the camera?
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:lol

"That's not muzzle flash! It's lens flare!"
 
B

big ander

Member
ShinAmano said:
Wouldn't figuring out who did it be pretty easy? I don't know maybe see who the last picture was on the camera?
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You made me picture a photo booth strip of a couple holding guns as they go from secret agent poses to gangstas pointing at the camera to a shot of the guns firing to them looking off camera in shock.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
worldrunover said:
Why the gun was loaded is the mystery.
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how do you get a headshot without aiming?

if they were aiming, why the fuck wouldn't the photographer ask to see if the gun was loaded or the safety engaged?

too much dumb shit in one story for my simple mind to handle.
 
A

andycapps

Member
Wonder whose bright idea it was to aim a gun at the camera. And yeah, you always assume a gun is loaded. This just screams ignorance.
 
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