Italian police have arrested a man over the brutal killing of a Nigerian street-seller, Alika Ogorchukwu.
Confirming the arrest, Police said people can be heard saying “stop” but no attempts were made to separate the pair”.
Police arrested the man, a 32-year-old Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo, through tracking, using street cameras.
Ferlazzo, according to the police is being held on suspicion of murder and theft, for allegedly taking the victim’s phone when he fled the scene.
Police also revealed Mr Ogorchukwu, 39, was selling goods Friday on the main street of Civitanova Marche, a beach town on the Adriatic Sea coast, when an Italian man grabbed a crutch the street-seller used to walk and struck him down.
“Footage shows him being wrestled to the ground, despite attempts to fight back” police stated.
Police chief Matteo Luconi told Italian news channel Sky TG24 that onlookers called police, who responded to the scene after a suspect had fled and attempted to administer aid to the victim. It was not clear if he died at the scene.
‘The compliment that killed him’
Luconi told Sky TG24 the assailant lashed out after the vendor made “insistent” requests for pocket change. Police were questioning witnesses and have taken into evidence videos of the attack. They said the suspect has made no statements.
Mr Ogorchukwu, who was married with two children, resorted to selling goods on the street after he was hit by a car and lost his job as a labourer due to the injuries he suffered.
The accident left him with a limp, and needing crutches, said Daniel Amanza, who runs the ACSIM association for immigrants in the Marche region’s Macerata province.
Mr Amanza claimed the aggressor became infuriated when Mr Ogorchukwu told the man’s companion she was beautiful.
“This compliment killed him”, Mr Amanza told The Associated Press.
“The tragic fact is that there were many people nearby. They filmed, saying ‘Stop’, but no one moved to separate them”, Mr Amanza said.
