The post-match basketball match between Pistoia and Sebastiani di Rieti ended in tragedy. The A2 league game played in the Rieti capital and won by the visiting team ended with an attack on a bus of Tuscan fans . A heavy hail of stones hit the bus, and the second driver, struck by a brick, died . Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. His name was Raffaele Marianella, and he was 65 years old . "I will always keep you in my heart," his daughter, Federica Marianella, wrote on Instagram.

The attack occurred along the Rieti-Terni highway, near the Contigliano exit. Fans of the Rieti Sebastiani Basket team threw rocks, stones, and other objects at the bus as it was leaving the city after a match at the PalaSojourner stadium. The bus was hit by rocks thrown at the front, and the windshield was smashed in one spot by a stone, right at the height of the seat where the co-driver was likely sitting, next to the driver. The windshield is also cracked but not broken on the driver's side.

At the PalaSojurner in Rieti, during the A2 league game between Pistoia and Sebastiani Basket Rieti, there were moments of tension that were later quelled by the intervention of security and law enforcement. Tension erupted among the fans, particularly during the break between the second and third quarters, requiring the intervention of the police and Carabinieri. At the end of the game, the Pistoia fans' bus left the arena and was escorted by police to the Rieti-Terni highway junction. The fans then allegedly followed the bus for several kilometers and then launched an attack, throwing rocks and stones, which cost the driver his life. Emergency medical services, along with several police and Carabinieri patrols, arrived immediately.

And now the hunt is on for the attackers. " We have opened a case of voluntary homicide, currently against unknown persons . Several witnesses have been interviewed, but no potential perpetrators have yet been identified," reports Rieti prosecutor Paolo Auriemma .