Overview
- Axyl Izouaouen, 19, and Adam Izouaouen, 21, both from London, were arrested after a Feb. 14 attack outside La Bussola near Venice’s Rialto Bridge.
- Police say a dispute linked to social-media contact with a woman escalated; the 22-year-old victim suffered a neck wound requiring life-saving surgery that narrowly missed his jugular, and he remains hospitalized for at least a month.
- Investigators say CCTV and witness accounts indicate the older cousin handed a switchblade to the younger, who allegedly carried out the stabbing as the victim walked away.
- Venice’s Flying Squad used CCTV, wiretaps, electronic surveillance, social-media analysis and cooperation with UK police to track the suspects to a relative’s apartment in the city centre.
- State police divers searched the Grand Canal for the knife, with Italian reports saying the blade was recovered, and British consular officials are assisting the detained men.