A recreational hunter discovered the lifeless body of 24-year-old Massimiliano Lucietti in the forests of Celledizzo in the Val di Sole in Trentino.
The young man had been shot from behind at close range, from a distance of just half a metre. According to initial information, the young recreational hunter died from a shot to the back of the neck.
The body was lying on its back and the rifle was on the ground, close but not too close to the victim — a position that investigators considered abnormal.
According to a report by the Trentino newspaper «L’Adige» the authorities are currently investigating in all directions. An investigation into negligent homicide has been launched, though nothing is currently being ruled out — it could also be a hunting accident.
A further death near the scene
24 hours later, another recreational hunter, 59-year-old Maurizio Gionta, a retired forestry official, was found dead, also shot. Investigators are treating this as a suicide. Gionta had left a letter to his relatives in which he wrote: «Do not blame me for what I did not do.«
Maurizio Gionta had been questioned at length by investigators after having discovered the body of Massimiliano Lucietti. His body was found near his home, not far from the location where the young recreational hunter lost his life.
These are the initial findings that emerged from the autopsy carried out on 2 November 2022 by Dr. Dario Raniero, the anatomical pathologist to whom deputy prosecutor Davide Ognibene had entrusted the task.
Given the complexity of the investigation, the presence of a third person cannot be ruled out.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
