Truck driver kills intruder during attempted theft at Piedmont farmhouse

In the early hours, Roberto Mollo, a 35-year-old truck driver, was sleeping inside a farmhouse he was renovating in Baldissero d’Alba when he heard loud noises and saw a group of four to five men entering the courtyard. He retrieved a semi-automatic pistol, which he legally possessed, and fired several shots, killing a 36-year-old Albanian man with prior criminal convictions. Mollo immediately dialed 112, reporting that the men were attempting to steal building materials such as tiles, cement and tools valued at a few thousand euros.

The remaining intruders escaped on foot and are being sought by the Carabinieri of Bra. The Procura di Asti has opened a voluntary homicide investigation against Mollo, who was not interrogated but accompanied officers to the station for a search warrant. The victim, a resident of Turin, will undergo an autopsy, and the incident has drawn comments from the town mayor, Michele Lusso, who called Mollo “a good guy” but noted the unusual gravity of the case for the community.