Robbery in Lugano Fistfight with a loaded gun - how dangerous was the police operation?

A video allegedly shows how a scuffle broke out between an officer and a robber during the robbery in Lugano on Tuesday before a shot was fired. How dangerous was the situation?

According to the Ticino police, there were dramatic scenes on Tuesday when several men attempted to rob a jewelry store in Lugano. Shots were fired, but there were no injuries. A police bicycle patrol, which noticed the perpetrators, raised the alarm and four suspected robbers were arrested. The "20 Minuten" portal is now reporting on a video that shows how dangerous the situation actually was.

The footage allegedly shows a robber storming out of the store while a police officer aims a pistol at him. Another police officer attempts to stop the fleeing man and is pulled along by him. Together they crash into a pile of bricks.

To prevent the robber from escaping, the officer clutches him, holding his service weapon in his hand. He hits the robber with his pistol. A shot and the jingling of shell casings are then heard. A shot may have been fired.

Police officer handicaps himself

Markus Melzl, a former police inspector in Basel-Stadt, described the situation to "20 Minuten" as "delicate and extremely dangerous". In his opinion, the police officer's actions were correct: "He tried to catch the perpetrator by drawing his weapon."

Of course, it is more difficult to fight with a weapon in your hand. The police officer had handicapped himself. Melzl explains: "The fact that a shot is still fired from the weapon makes the situation all the more dangerous. This shot could also have hit civilians standing nearby."

The police officer had expected the robber to stop in the face of the loaded pistol, but he attempted to flee. "That puts the police officer in a difficult situation, he has to make a split-second decision. Shoot, let the perpetrator go or go into hand-to-hand combat?" explains Melzl. He suspects that there was not enough time to put the weapon back in the holster.

As there were many people nearby, "it would have been far too dangerous to fire a shot in this situation". In Switzerland, service weapons are only used in extreme emergencies anyway, unlike in the United States, for example.

Lugano police: video only shows half the truth

A spokesperson for the local police explained that it was regrettable to have to justify the actions of an officer who "risked his own safety to bring dangerous robbers to justice" at such a sensitive moment. It is a fact "that an armed robbery in the middle of the city center was foiled shortly before noon and the four perpetrators were arrested", according to the Lugano police.

The video would only show half the truth: "The officer already had the weapon in his hand before he was attacked, as he asked the robbers to put down their own loaded weapons". Officers are trained for such situations.

The police officers are armed with a SIG P320 Carry, which does not have a safety that can be activated or deactivated. "The cartridge is in the barrel of every service weapon." In addition, the public prosecutor's office will open an investigation ex officio - a standard procedure if officers use a service weapon. The aim is to clarify the facts and the dynamics of the action.