MACERATA -- In a state of shock and in the midst of a breakdown a doctor was allegedly called to carabinieri headquaters for 39-year-old father Lorenzo Lucaroni.  His six-year-old son Giosuè was killed in Sambucheto in the province of Macerata, with a shot from none other than his own mother, Laura Paoletti.  The 32-year-old then turned the gun on herself.

 Lucaroni, a surveyor who in the past has acted as a city counsellor, could be heard around the barracks of Civitanova Marche’s carabinieri as he learnt of the death of his former partner and son.  His alibi stands solid and, in any case, there are apparently no doubts on the hypothesis of murder-suicide.

 The act took place on Sunday afternoon in an apartment above a factory in the industrial zone of Recanati, where Ms Paoletti was temporarily living with her father whilst waiting for a house in the country to be renovated.  The two had broken off their relationship a while beforehand and custody of their son appears to have been a source of great tension between the two.

 On Sunday Lucaroni should have picked up Giosuè so that they could spend the day together, as had been arranged in their guardianship agreement.  They had arranged to meet at 4 p.m., but just after lunch Ms Paoletti fired two shots at her son and one at herself.  Fingerprints found on the gun are being checked against the woman’s to rule out any other hypotheses before the autopsy is carried out on Tuesday.

 “Laura was a determined, cheerful woman, a normal person.  She was going through the typical conflict of two people who separate and had to manage this on-going phase of crisis in respect to the custody of her child.  The woman, however, did not have family issues other than that situation,” confirmed Laura Paoletti’s lawyer, Alessandra Perticarà.

 “Having a family law case,” continued the lawyer, “is always a very intense personal thing.  There were not however, though of course I’m not a psychologist, unusual features to this case.  We were working towards a common solution.  In procedural terms we were following the steps and had found a time when they were both free, then we were going to talk about the future for the final part of the agreement.  Last time we talked about questions regarding the practicalities very calmly and parted on good terms.  We were even joking about.  I could never have imagined it ending in this way, truly.  I’m shocked.  Her love for her son was incredibly strong.  She really loved him.  He was her entire life.”

 Even the owner of the box factory Cartotecnica Idelabox, where Paoletti was a small stakeholder, allegedly told the carabinieri that he’d spoken to her that morning and that the young mother was completely serene.  The two had only talked about work.

 ch