TODAY IN HISTORY: Star footballer killed in prank gone wrong
Star Italian footballer Luciano Re Cecconi was killed in a prank gone wrong on January 18, 1977.
The 28-year-old midfielder, who played for Lazio and the national team, decided it would be funny to stage a robbery.
Re Cecconi and his teammate Pietro Ghedin ran into a jewellery shop with their faces covered, yelling "Put your hands up!"
The owner didn't realise he was being pranked, pulling out a shotgun and shooting Re Cecconi in the chest.
As he lay on the floor dying, Re Cecconi cried out: "It's a joke. It's just a joke."
The jewellery store owner was arrested but soon released and never charged.
Ghedin went on to a long career, managing the Italian women's national team before coaching Malta's men's side.
He never spoke publicly about the shooting.
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