By IANS
Rio de Janeiro : A 56-year-old Italian artist has been shot dead when she apparently resisted a robbery attempt in the Brazilian city of Recife, the Spanish news agency EFE said.
Patrizia Zocchi, who had lived in Brazil for two years, was killed over the weekend at the house she shared with her husband Ivo Nardo, police in the northeastern state of Pernambuco said.
Two robbers, who had scaled a wall to enter Italian couple's house, killed Zocchi after the artist surprised them in her garden.
Nardo, who had been married to Zocchi for 16 years, said he was taking a shower when he heard gunshots. He rushed outside and saw the two men fleeing empty-handed.
Police, who initially suspected the husband was the killer, said tests for traces of gunpowder ruled out Nardo as a suspect.
Nardo was considered a suspect because he was the only witness, there were holes in his statement and he reacted coolly to the murder, police said.