Italian Police shoot out tyres of car that ran Vatican roadblock

Italian police shot out the tyres of a car that had forced a roadblock just a stone's throw from St. Peter's Square on Sunday.The car, driven by a 38-year-old Albanian man, already known to the police for previous misdemeanours, didn't stop at a police checkpoint on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, one of the main streets in central Rome, and from there the police and Carabinieri chase began.

After driving down Via della Conciliazione, the main street leading to St. Peter's Basilica, the car forced another checkpoint in front of one of the main entrances to the Vatican as thousands of pilgrims were arriving in St. Peter's Square to attend Pope Francis' Angelus. Police tried to stop it by cutting it off and firing a shot at a wheel, but the car continued on its way, knocking down some security barriers and proceeding at high speed along a pavement. A short distance from the Vatican, the car was stopped and the fugitive, who tried to get out and escape police, was immobilized with the use of a taser.