Italian swimmer Manuel Bortuzzo ‘shot’ in Rome - Latest updates as youngster has surgery
ITALIAN swimmer Manuel Bortuzzo has reportedly been shot in Roma and is “struggling” for his life.
Bortuzzo is one of the next generation of Italian swimmers and trains in the capital.
The 19-year-old is tipped as a middle-distance swimmer for the future.
He has trained with Italian greats Gregorio Paltrinieri, Gabriele Detti and Domenico Acerenza at the Fiamme Gialle di Castelporziano.
But reports from Italy are emerging that Bortuzzo was hit by a gunshot in Rome overnight.
According to Il Messaggero, Bortuzzo was with friends at the Piazza Eschilo when the incident happened.
It is said that at around 2am on Sunday morning Bortuzzo and his friends were looking for somewhere to enjoy a drink.
They passed a pub where a fight had already broken out earlier in the evening.
The group of friends reportedly decided to head home, unaware of what had happened half an hour earlier, and that is when Bortuzzo is said to have been shot.
Bortuzzo was rushed to the Grassi di Ostia hospital and stabilised, before being taken to San Camillo hospital in the south west of the city.
Il Messaggero claim the swimmer is ‘struggling like a lion’.
In the latest development around 2:30pm UK time, it was reportedly that he has had surgery and that is went well.
“It's finished and the surgery went well to remove the bullet from the vertebra to Manuel Bortuzzo,” Mediaset journalist Beatrice Bortolin tweeted.
Bortuzzo specialises in 400m and 1500m events.
His parents are said to be heading to the capital from Treviso to check up on their son.
Further reports in Italy suggest the shooting came from two men on a motorbike.
The pair are alleged to have then sped off away from the scene.
Police are reviewing CCTV footage of the invent.
La Stampa claim the swimmer may have been mistaken for someone else.