Tam High Alum Claims Self-Defense In Slaying Of Italian Cop: AP

MILL VALLEY, CA — A Marin County man charged in the slaying of an Italian police officer during a 2019 Rome vacation has told the court he acted in self-defense, The Associated Press reports.

Finnegan Lee Elder, 21, and his friend, Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 20 – both Tamalpais High School graduates – are both charged in the murder of Mario Cerciello Rega, the report said.

A drug deal gone wrong precipitated the July 26, 2019 killing of a 35-year-old Carabinieri paramilitary officer according to the report.

Elder told the court he believed the officer was a go-between he had sought to retrieve money from after hours earlier paying for cocaine he did not receive according to the report.

Elder said he was confronted by two men he didn’t recognize who he believed were thugs that turned out to be undercover officers.

He said one of the men tackled him to the ground according to the report.

“I could feel his hands first on my chest and then on my neck, with pressure, as if he was trying to strangle or choke me,” Elder said according to the report.

Cerciello Rega and his partner, Andrea Varriale, had been summoned to respond to an extortion attempt according to the report.

The unarmed officer was stabbed 11 times according to the report.

Read more in The Associated Press