By Police1 Staff
MILAN — The officer who fatally shot a man suspected of killing 12 people when he drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market is a rookie who had just joined the force.
According to the Guardian, Luca Scatà, 29, joined the department at the beginning of November and is still in his probationary period. Before going out to patrol, he received nine months of police training.
Scatà and his partner Cristian Movio were patrolling a train station early Friday morning when they saw suspect Anis Amri acting suspicious. They approached him and asked him for identification, the publication reported.
When prompted to open his backpack, Amri opened fire and shot Movio in the shoulder. Scatà’s training kicked in and he fired twice at Amri, killing him.
Bullet hole in the uniform of the policeman wounded in the shoot-out with Anis Amri. Now having surgery but not in a critical condition pic.twitter.com/BOx8lF9QwZ
— Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) December 23, 2016
Movio was transferred to a local hospital and is expected to fully recover.
Italian police praised the officers for their “courage and skills,” saying that their quick action saved lives.
“My son simply did his job,” Scatà’s father, Pippo, told the Siracusa News. “We are proud of him. I don’t have other words to express how we feel.”
“Proud of the professional work done”, so #PoliceChief Franco Gabrielli on the phone with police officers after the shooting in Milan pic.twitter.com/ml6uTcmv5x
— Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) December 23, 2016