Femicide, booby trap, silencer: what makes hobby hunting a high-risk practice
IG Wild beim Wild demands from the Ticino public prosecutor a full clarification of the Faido/Leontica case regarding firearms possession, silencer, explosives, risk assessment and the authorities' licensing practice.
As an organisation based in the Blenio Valley and a party directly affected by the explosion, IG Wild beim Wild does not regard this as an isolated event, but as a safety issue of public interest.
The case raises fundamental questions: how is it possible for a private individual, without any systematic psychological aptitude assessment, to own several firearms, presumably a silencer and possibly even explosives, when psychological fitness tests and clear age limits are standard within the police and the military?
Confirmed hunting connection
In response to a written enquiry from IG Wild beim Wild, the RSI editorial team confirmed, based on statements made by the Ticino criminal police at the press conference of 13 July 2026: the perpetrator was a hobby hunter («cacciatore»). According to RSI, it remains open whether the silencer used was legal, on what legal basis it may have been authorised, and whether the seized weapons were part of a hunting arsenal.
Wild beim Wild has taken up this open gap and placed the case in the broader context of a recurring problem of violence and offences among hobby hunters.
Open questions to the authorities
At the heart of the list of questions addressed to public prosecutor Petra Canonica Alexakis are in particular:
- Were the seized weapons legally acquired and correctly registered?
- Was there a cantonal special permit for the silencer, even though silencers are in principle prohibited weapon accessories in Switzerland?
- Were there any indications of threats, violence or psychological abnormalities prior to the act that would have justified an earlier disarmament?
- How was it possible for the armed perpetrator to remain present in the village surroundings for hours after the femicide, even though there was an acute threat situation?
These questions concern not only the individual case, but the structural safety in handling private hunting weapons.
Grisons reveals the pattern
The figures from Grisons show that this is not an isolated event. For years, over 1’000 fines and reports against hobby hunters have been registered there annually; Wild beim Wild points, for instance, to 1’298 cases in 2015, 1’384 in 2017 and 1’241 in 2020. With around 5,500 active hobby hunters, this means: year after year, potentially one in five hobby hunters is recorded as an offender.
SRF also reported that during the Grisons high hunt around 9 per cent of kills are carried out unlawfully. Such figures are a clear indication that conflicts with hunting and firearms law are not a marginal phenomenon among hobby hunters.
How does the Ticino public prosecutor explain the fact that in the canton of Grisons over 1’000 reports and fixed penalties against hobby hunters are recorded year after year, while in Ticino no comparable published figures exist? Is this a genuinely different behaviour on the part of hobby hunters, or is it a matter of less consistent controls and a lower willingness to make offences statistically visible?
Not an isolated case: violence against critical voices
The Faido/Leontica case fits into an already documented pattern in which hobby hunters resort to violence or intimidation against people who critically monitor hunting practices: https://wildbeimwild.com/category/kriminalitaet-jagd/
That harsh, fact-based criticism of hobby hunting is legally permissible was also confirmed in 2020 by the criminal court of the canton of Ticino: it fully acquitted IG Wild beim Wild of a defamation suit brought by the association JagdSchweiz, with legal force.
Criticism of the mainstream media
From the perspective of IG Wild beim Wild it is striking and problematic that many mainstream media do not clearly name the perpetrator's hunting connection, even though precisely this link is central to the public debate about weapons privileges, silencers and risk assessment.
Upon enquiry, RSI stated that at the present time many points are still unclear; at the same time, however, it was confirmed that the perpetrator was a hunter and that key questions regarding the silencer, the type of weapon and the basis of authorisation remain open.
Anyone reporting on femicide, a booby trap and a weapons arsenal must not ignore the hunting-law dimension. Otherwise it remains invisible that in Switzerland access to several lethal weapons and to silencers is privileged precisely for hobby hunters.
From our documented cases of strangling, spitting, death threats and hate campaigns against animal welfare activists, we know that violence by hobby hunters is not an isolated occurrence. The violence from the woods is carried into the home. Against this background, the question arises: how widespread is the practice of effectively obliging victims of hobby-hunter violence to remain silent towards the public after convictions? What guidelines exist on this, and how is it prevented that a culture of silence becomes established in the interplay of authorities, hunting organisations and the media – one in which violence and legal violations by hobby hunters are systematically downplayed or rendered invisible?
Demands
IG Wild beim Wild demands:
- full transparency on the origin and authorisation of all seized weapons, silencers and any explosives
- an investigation into whether earlier warning signs were overlooked and whether earlier disarmament would have been possible
- serious cantonal statistics on charges, fines and convictions against hunting-licence holders in Ticino
- periodic medical-psychological aptitude tests for hobby hunters modelled on other countries such as the Netherlands, as well as a binding upper age limit for private hunting activity.
The Faido/Leontica case shows with brutal clarity that the private possession of lethal weapons for recreational purposes is not a harmless fringe issue, but a matter of public security interest.
More on the case and its context: https://wildbeimwild.com/femizid-in-faido-explosion-in-leontica-kein-einzelfall-sondern-muster-bei-hobby-jaegern/