We saw people flying
On a Saturday afternoon in Modena, Italy, a young man drove his car at high speed into a crowd of pedestrians near the city's cathedral, injuring eight people and leaving one woman without both legs. The act — deliberate, sudden, and followed by a knife attack on a bystander — confronted a community with the kind of violence that resists easy explanation. What emerged in the aftermath was not only grief and questions about mental health systems that lose track of vulnerable individuals, but also a familiar political reflex: the rush to assign meaning to a man's origins before the full weight of his suffering, or his victims', had even settled.
- A car traveling at 100km/h mounted the pavement on one of Modena's main streets, striking eight people in seconds and leaving one woman with catastrophically crushed legs.
- The driver then stepped out armed with a knife, attacking a bystander who had rushed to help the injured — turning rescuers themselves into targets.
- Ordinary passers-by physically restrained the suspect before police arrived, their intervention preventing further harm in the absence of any immediate official response.
- Investigators quickly surfaced a 2022 mental health referral for the suspect — a flag that had gone unmonitored for four years, raising urgent questions about systemic gaps in care.
- Within hours, far-right politicians had seized on the suspect's Moroccan heritage, framing a man born in Italy with no criminal record as an emblem of immigration failure.
On a Saturday afternoon in Modena, a car accelerated onto the pavement along Via Emilia near the city's cathedral, striking eight pedestrians at speeds of at least 100 kilometers per hour. Four were seriously injured. One woman lost both legs.
Witnesses described the vehicle surging deliberately toward the crowd before crashing into a shop window. What followed deepened the horror: the driver climbed out holding a knife. A bystander named Luca Signorelli, who had been trying to help the gravely injured woman, gave chase when he saw the driver attempting to flee. The driver turned and stabbed him in the head and chest. Other passers-by then intervened together, overpowering the suspect before he could flee or harm anyone else.
The driver was identified as Salim El Koudri, 31, born in the province of Bergamo to Moroccan parents and living in the Modena area. He held an economics degree, was unemployed, and had no criminal record. One detail stood out: in 2022, he had been referred to a mental health center for schizoid disorders — and then disappeared from official oversight entirely. Modena's prefect confirmed at a press conference that this gap in monitoring was now a central concern.
The attack rapidly became political. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini named El Koudri on social media and called him a 'second-generation criminal,' foregrounding his immigrant heritage despite his Italian birth and clean record. The incident thus became two stories at once — a community's grief over sudden, senseless violence, and a nation's argument about who belongs and who is to blame.
On a Saturday afternoon in Modena, a city in northern Italy southeast of Milan, a car accelerated toward the sidewalk near the cathedral and struck eight people in rapid succession. The vehicle was traveling at least 100 kilometers per hour when it mounted the pavement along Via Emilia, a main thoroughfare. Four of the injured were in serious condition. One woman suffered injuries so severe that both of her legs were crushed.
Witnesses described the moment with the clarity of shock. The car was approaching the curb when it suddenly surged forward, the driver apparently aiming deliberately at the pedestrians. "We saw people flying," one observer told Italian media. The vehicle continued until it crashed into a shop window, finally coming to rest.
What happened next transformed the scene from tragedy into something more complex. The driver, a 31-year-old Italian national of Moroccan origin, emerged from the vehicle holding a knife. A man named Luca Signorelli, who had been trying to help the injured woman with the crushed legs, noticed the driver attempting to flee. Signorelli gave chase. The driver turned and attacked him with the knife, striking him in the head and chest. Other passers-by intervened, and together they overpowered the suspect before he could cause further harm.
The suspect's identity and background became public within hours. Officials identified him as Salim El Koudri. He was born in the province of Bergamo, near Milan, and lived in the Modena area. According to Italian media reports, he held an economics degree and was currently unemployed with no criminal record. But there was another detail in his history: in 2022, he had been referred to a mental health center for what officials described as schizoid disorders. After that referral, he had disappeared from official view.
Modena's Mayor Massimo Mezzetti stated plainly that the driver had deliberately driven onto the pavement, striking multiple people before crashing into the shop. The prefect of Modena, Fabrizia Triolo, confirmed at a Saturday evening news conference that El Koudri had been flagged for mental health concerns four years earlier but had then vanished from the system's awareness. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the incident "extremely serious."
The attack quickly became a focal point for political messaging. Matteo Salvini, Italy's far-right Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the anti-immigrant League party, named the suspect publicly on social media and described him as a "second-generation criminal." The characterization drew attention to the suspect's immigrant heritage despite the fact that he had no criminal history and was born in Italy. The incident, in other words, became not only a matter of public safety but also a vehicle for broader political arguments about immigration and belonging.
Citações Notáveis
It suddenly accelerated—it was going at least 100km/h. We saw people flying.— Eyewitness to Italian media
He deliberately drove on to the pavement, hitting several people and crashing into a shop window. He then got out of his car and brandished a knife.— Modena Mayor Massimo Mezzetti
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter that he was referred to mental health services in 2022 but then disappeared from the system?
Because it suggests a gap—someone was flagged as needing help, but the system lost track of him. Four years later, he's driving a car into pedestrians. The question becomes whether better continuity of care might have changed the outcome.
The mayor said he drove onto the pavement deliberately. How can you tell the difference between deliberate and accidental at that speed?
The witnesses said he accelerated suddenly when approaching the curb. That's the detail that suggests intent—not just losing control, but pressing the pedal harder. The crash into the shop window came after, which could be either.
A man with a knife emerges from the car. Why does he have a knife at all?
That's the part that remains unclear from what we know. Was it premeditated? Was it something he grabbed in the moment? The sources don't say. It's one of the gaps in the story.
Salvini called him a "second-generation criminal" even though he has no criminal record.
Right. He's using the incident to make a political point about immigration, but the facts don't support the label. He's unemployed, educated, and has never been convicted of anything. The only thing that fits the narrative Salvini wants to tell is his family's origin.
What happens to the woman who lost both legs?
The sources don't follow her story beyond the injury itself. She's the most severely hurt, but she becomes a detail in the larger account rather than a person we follow. That's a limitation of how these events get reported.