Antonio Franzéa 28-year-old worker from San Giorgio su Legnano, was awarded the honor of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic from President Sergio Mattarella: Franzéthe neighbor-hero who in November 2023 saved a 36-year-old from the fury of her partner who shot her and then took his own life, received the award during the award ceremony at Palazzo Diotti in Milan on Sunday 2 June from the hands of the Prefect of Milan Claudio Sgaraglia. It was precisely her intervention, in those tragic, excited moments, that gave the woman a chance, who was desperately trying to lower herself from the balcony when Franzé he had saved her by taking her in his arms while his companion held her at gunpoint.
«I heard screaming, I left the house and my neighbor, a security guard by profession, explained to me what was happening and what I was facing, he warned me to pay attention – says Franzé -. I tried to talk to the man to see if it was possible to make him see reason and convince him not to do what he was about to do, but he didn’t want to listen to reason. He threatened me by pointing a gun at me to make me go away: I left, I called the Carabinieri and I stood on the balcony to wait for them to arrive. It was then that the man managed to enter the house where the woman had locked herself, and she ran onto the balcony. He reached her, then I don’t know what happened: I saw her climb over the balcony railing and let herself fall, and I acted instinctivelyonly later did I realize what was happening. I caught it while he was shooting: one or two shots hit the girl, while one grazed my leg and ended up against the floor and disintegrated in the house.”
Even months later – and it couldn’t be otherwise – those dramatic moments are alive in Franzé’s memory. «When I think about it I still feel dazed thinking about what could have happened, how things could have gone – explains the 28-year-old, who wants to thank all the people who were close to him during this difficult period, especially the mayor of San Giorgio and the forces of the Legnano Order -. Not so much for me, but why my partner had left just five minutes earlier to pick up our daughter from nursery: if it had happened five minutes later, my daughter could have been involved, but if it had happened five minutes earlier my partner would have been at home. Instead I thank God for how things went. At that moment it was like there was a blackout in my head: I thought about what I should have done if that man had come down, to call the ambulance, to call my partner to tell her not to come home, it was as if my brain was going up in smoke.”
Last night, on the occasion of the Republic Day concert, the eighteen-year-olds of San Giorgio received a copy of the Constitution from the hands of Antonio Franzèwith the mayor Claudio Ruggeri who defined his gesture as «an example for everyone from a citizen who in those moments decided not to back down».
