Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992                   TAG: 9203060057
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LUGANO, SWITZERLAND                                LENGTH: Medium

SWISS GUNMAN KILLS 6 PEOPLE DOOR-TO-DOOR

Toting a semiautomatic rifle, the 37-year-old gunman burst in on one family as it ate dinner and shot other victims on their doorsteps during the two-hour spree Wednesday evening, police said.

The gunman surrendered in tears after the rampage in the villages of Rivera, Origlio and Massagno, which left six people wounded, some seriously.

It was the third time in as many years that this normally placid country has been rocked by a multiple slaying.

Critics have blamed gun laws so varied that in some areas submachine guns can be bought without a permit.

Lawmakers - under pressure from neighboring European countries and worried about increasing crime at home - are working on a bill that would give federal authorities the power to propose comprehensive gun laws for the first time.

Police said they had no idea what motivated Wednesday's killings and would not say if the gunman, Erminio Criscione, knew his victims. They said he lived in the Swiss canton (state) of Ticino, near the Italian border.

But villagers said he had worked in the butcher shop in Rivera about 13 years ago and had contacts with the people he shot.

The six people killed were from two families in Rivera.

Police said Criscione gave himself up without a struggle at a road blockade about 9 p.m. He was crying as he stepped out of car, according to a police spokesman.

He began the rampage about 7 p.m. by ringing the doorbell of an apartment in Origlio, then shooting in the foot the man who answered the door, police said.

He then drove to the Rivera near this picturesque southern Swiss town, and burst in on the family of Paolo Balerna, 35, as they ate dinner.

Villagers said Criscione used to rent an apartment from the family.

Balerna, his mother and step-father were shot to death and Balerna's wife and 5-year-old daughter were seriously injured. Two other family members were slightly wounded, while Balerna's 7-year-old daughter escaped.

Police said Criscione then went to a second home in Rivera, killing Dario Salco, 66, and his wife and severely wounding their 23-year-old son, who died later from his injuries.

Finally, he shot and badly wounded a woman in Massagno.

Keywords:
FATALITY