Graphic testimony in trial of 2 Bay Area teens accused in slaying of Italian officer

An Italian police officer testified Wednesday at the murder trial of two Americans about trying in vain to stop blood pouring out like a “fountain” from his partner who was fatally stabbed last summer on a Rome street.

The two young men from California were in Italy's capital as vacationers a year ago, and are charged in the killing of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello on a street near their hotel on July 26, 2019.

The Americans, Finnegan Lee Elder, now 20, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, now 19, said in pretrial questioning that they mistook Cerciello and his partner as criminals trying to attack them and that they scuffled with the Italians to defend themselves, according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege that Elder stabbed Cerciello 11 times and that Natale-Hjorth hid the murder weapon, a military-style attack knife that Elder allegedly brought in a suitcase from the United States. Under Italian law, defendants having a role in a murder case can also be charged with homicide.

The confrontation followed an alleged attempt by the tourists to buy cocaine earlier in the evening in a Rome nightlife district. After allegedly paying for the drug, the Americans realized they were swindled and didn't receive it.

Angry, the Americans snatched a backpack with a cellphone inside that belonged to the drug dealer's go-between, the prosecution contends.

The backpack's owner told police that when he called his own phone, one of the Americans answered and demanded money and cocaine in exchange for returning the bag.

Cerciello’s partner, Andrea Varriale, testified that the two officers were dispatched on a pre-dawn mission to retrieve the bag. Working in plainclothes, Varriale said he wore a polo-shirt and jeans while Cerciello wore a T-shirt and long...