Treviso, (Italy): An Italian second division football match was called off on Saturday after a policewoman shot herself in the head in an apparent suicide attempt, news reports said.

The policewoman was to undergo a long and difficult operation in a hospital in the north-eastern city of Treviso, the Ansa news agency said.

The shooting took place while the 42-year-old policewoman was on duty outside Treviso's Tenni stadium during a Serie B game between local team Treviso and Grosseto, Ansa reported.

"I am very sad, in a very low mood. We are trying to understand how this can have happened," Treviso police chief Filippo Lapi said.

There have never been problems regarding the woman's performance in the seven years she spent at the Treviso police office, Lapi said. She had been on duty outside the stadium in other occasions.

Police said that the bullet appears to have entered the woman's jawbone and exited through her skull.

A woman colleague who reportedly tried to prevent the victim from shooting herself suffered minor injuries and was dismissed from hospital in the late afternoon.

Fans who heard the gunshot implored officials to suspend the match in what was first thought to be an incident related to crowd trouble, Ansa said.

Violence has long marred Italian football with recent incidents including widespread rioting following the fatal police shooting of a Lazio fan in November 2007 and the killing of a policeman in clashes outside the stadium of Catania in February of the same year.

 

Source : IANS