two victims and hours of terror –

An event that has shocked the Alta Val Pusteria and the tranquility of the community of San Candido: Ewald Kuehbacher last night started shooting wildly, killing two people and then, once hunted by the special forces of the Carabinieri, the Gis, he tried to take his own life by shooting himself in the throat. The 50-year-old died in hospital in Bolzano. What happened in a four-story apartment building on Via San Corbiniano at the intersection with Via Frana is horrific. It all started around 11:00 pm yesterday – the news leaked out in the early hours of this morning – when the alarm went off inside the building for a gas leak. The firefighters, alerted by a woman from the apartment building, were literally targeted by Kuehbacher when they arrived, who opened fire. Another woman, Waltraud Jud, 50 years old, secretary at the Teleriscaldamento Termo-Elettrico Dobbiaco-San Candido since 2012, who had gone out onto the landing a few steps from the entrance of her apartment, was killed by Kuehbacher’s madness. The latter did not even spare the carabinieri, opening fire on the company car (the rear window was destroyed).

Until 4:00 a.m., the man continued to shoot at anyone who tried to get close, also shooting at other cars that were parked near the house. Carabinieri and men from the State Police, together with rescuers and firefighters, were unable to calm Ewald Kuehbacher down. The arrival of the Special Intervention Group of the Carabinieri was inevitable. After having searched the area and prepared for the operation, they broke into the house where the fifty-year-old was hiding. Once inside the apartment, the soldiers found the lifeless body of Ewald Kuehbacher’s father, Hermann, 90 years old, a retired gamekeeper from San Candido. The perpetrator of the double homicide, once cornered, turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the throat.

For several hours – the alarm was then silenced at 11 am with the intervention of the GIS – the citizens, local population and many tourists, were asked not to leave their homes and hotels. The state road of Val Pusteria was closed and the train station made inaccessible. The house was placed under seizure by the investigators for a series of tests, including ballistic ones to understand with which weapon the man killed two people. Several hours later the mayor of San Candido, Klaus Rainer wrote that «San Candido is shocked and in deep mourning for the loss of our esteemed fellow citizen and former employee of the Municipality of San Candido, Mrs. Jud Waltraud, and of Mr. Kuehbacher Hermann, a dark chapter in the history of our community, which will resonate for a long time». The mayor, who has been repeatedly questioned in the past about the exploits of tennis player Jannik Sinner, who is originally from those areas, added, «the intervention forces, such as the firefighters, the White Cross, the Carabinieri and the State Police, were very lucky, as they were initially called for a gas leak and suddenly found themselves in a dramatic and extremely dangerous situation», then continued by saying, «only the special units of the Carabinieri of the GIS were able to resolve the situation without further victims, the wound left by this loss will continue to hurt for a long time». Finally, Mayor Rainer wanted to thank, «on behalf of the Municipality of San Candido, all the intervention forces, and offer our most sincere condolences to the family».