Man With Homemade Weapons Tries to Rob Sicily Jewelry Store

A 25-year-old armed with a pistol tried to rob a jewelry store in the historic center of Gela, Sicily, and fled empty-handed. Police later found a homemade weapons workshop at his home.

Footage released by Italy’s Polizia di Stato on October 21 shows the masked man walking into the shop on security cameras. It then shows the seized haul laid out on tables at the police station: pistols, a submachine gun-style weapon, magazines and a 3D printer.

Police said the man threw a backpack at the owner and ordered that it be filled with gold. When the owner told him the shop didn’t sell precious metals, he gave up and ran off on foot. Investigators from the Gela police station identified him from surveillance footage.

When officers searched his home, they found the clothes worn during the attempt, a replica pistol and parts of a weapon that had been deactivated but modified to fire again, as well as weapon components, magazines and ammunition. They also seized a 3D printer, a welding machine and a drill press believed to have been used to build and modify the weapons.

The man was arrested for manufacturing and illegally possessing weapons of war and ammunition. He is also under investigation for attempted aggravated robbery.