The attacks and the arrests

Carabinieri and Rome local police identified two boys, aged 16 and 17, in connection with six assaults carried out from a black minicar in Rome between 4 and 5 October. The victims include actor Davide Iacopini, who was seriously injured. In the night between 13 and 14 October, investigators seized a minicar that matches the vehicle used in the attacks, following an inquiry coordinated by Rome prosecutors. The two were questioned overnight at a police station and reportedly admitted the assaults, saying they had carried them out for fun. Both have been reported to prosecutors on suspicion of attempted murder, and they were left free rather than detained. The file has now been passed to the prosecutor's office of the Juvenile Court.

Iacopini's condition

Davide Iacopini is being treated in the intensive care unit of the Ao San Camillo Forlanini hospital in Rome, according to Adnkronos. He was hurt in an accident involving a scooter that was caused by the minicar. Reduction of his sedation has started, and cautious optimism is reportedly emerging, although his prognosis remains reserved. He underwent a second neurosurgical operation on the night of Friday, 9 October, which was completely successful. Iacopini is known as an actor from the Roman crime series Suburra.

How investigators traced the minicar

Stefano Mazzatelli, owner of the Kyt Racing body shop in the Boccea area, told Adnkronos that the vehicle had been grey until an accident damaged its rear, after which it was repainted matte black. A sticker bearing a large red snake, the shop's logo, helped lead investigators to the car. Mazzatelli said the car's owner had brought it in for repairs in March and returned in early September to ask for new decals. A mechanic's testimony about red LEDs fitted near the number plate also pointed to the vehicle. Investigators additionally found an app on one minor's phone that tracked movements, of the kind parents install to monitor their children.

Motive and expert view

ANSA reports that the pair were celebrating one of their birthdays between 4 and 5 October. Arianna Terrinoni, who heads an emergency psychiatric unit for adolescents at the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome, warned against generalising from this case and said there is no single cause for such behaviour.

There is no single mechanism. The search for risk and transgression can generate euphoria and satisfaction, even when someone else pays the consequences.

Terrinoni said social media can speed up copycat behaviour, and that video games can foster dependence on reward mechanisms without being an automatic cause. She described the Rome episodes as not representative of adolescents as a whole, and said the line between a prank and violence depends partly on intent. Her answer, she said, lies in emotional education, with families and schools offering alternatives through sport, study and social participation.

The sixth case and the wider pattern

The sixth case involves a 67-year-old man who was walking on Viale dei Quattro Venti late on 4 October when a black microcar carrying two people approached him. The passenger struck him in the side with a plastic pipe. He reported the incident at the Carabinieri station in Rome's Monteverde Nuovo district, and he did not seek medical assistance. Reports say one of the two boys lives in Monteverde and the other in Testaccio. Rome prosecutors met to discuss the suspected gang, which has injured several people in the capital.