Sicilian wedding photographer accidentally shot, killed by couple after he had them pose with guns

By Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, July 27th 2010, 10:52 AM

Maybe he should have just told the happy couple to say, "Cheese?"

A wedding photographer in Sicily was accidentally killed when he asked the prospective bride and groom to pose for a picture using hunting rifles as props - and one of them went off.

The blast hit 45-year-old Calogero Scimea in the head, and he died while the wedding party looked on in horror.

High school sweethearts Valentina Anitra, 22, and Ignazio Licodia, 25, immediately put their wedding on hold while police investigated.

In another sad twist, Scimea was filling in for another wedding photographer.

"He was only there as a favor for the wedding photographer who had originally been booked but had to pull out as he was ill," Col. Teo Luzi, a spokesman for the Palermo Police, said in published reports Tuesday.

Rifles are legal on the scenic Italian island that's known for - among other things - spawning the Mafia. It's also a tradition for guns to be fired off at family events and not unheard of for partygoers to get hurt.

But investigators are having a hard time getting the whole story out of Licodia's parents. They face possible criminal charges because the shooting happened at their house in Altofonte, just before the kids were to set off for a local church.

"What we are trying to establish is if the gun went off as it was being handled by the photographer, or if it went off as it was handed to him," said Luzi. "But no one is being very talkative."

From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/27/2010-07-27_sicilian_wedding_photographer_accidentally_shot_killed_by_couple_after_he_had_th.html