The 14-year-old son of the internationally acclaimed chef Andrea Minguzzi is fighting for his life after being stabbed in Istanbul’s Kadikoy market in Turkey with two teens arrested
A 15-year-old suspect claims he “doesn’t remember” knifing the son of a celebrity chef who is fighting for his life in hospital.
The horrific stabbing was caught on CCTV where the teen ran towards the victim brandishing a large knife and shouting. He is then seen repeatedly knifing the boy and as the first attacker turns to flee, a second teen kicks the helpless boy on the ground.
Mattia Ahmet Minguzzi, 14, whose dad is former US ambassadorial chef Andrea Minguzzi, is in a hospital intensive care unit with knife wounds to his heart, lungs and kidney. He was stabbed as he shopped with friends, looking for skateboarding gear, in Istanbul’s Kadikoy market in Turkey last Friday.
Police have arrested two suspects, aged 15 and and 16, who allegedly carried out the attack which took place at around 8.30am. Mattia is understood to have gone to the flea market with friends and got into an argument with the two suspects.
The two groups reportedly met again later and it was then that the stabbing allegedly happened with shopkeepers intervening to stop it. The 15-year-old, who has been named only by his initials B.B. stabbed Mattia who fell to the ground and then the 16-year-old U.B. kicked him on the floor.
And now in a statement B.B., reported Haberler.com, said of the initial argument: “While I was walking in the market, one of the three people I didn’t know pointed at my glasses and said, ‘What’s on your head, you brat, your mouth smells like milk’. I replied, ‘Mind your own business, I don’t want to fight’.”
He said of the follow-up incident and the stabbing: “I went over to them with my friend. When the same person said similar things, the shopkeeper intervened. Later, Mattia Ahmet Minguzzi, whose name I learned afterward, pushed me. Then, I took the knife I saw at the fruit and vegetable stand in the market. I swung the knife at them to scare them.
“However, the knife hit Mattia Ahmet Minguzzi. After that, my friend and I ran away from the scene. The police took me from my home. I don’t remember stabbing him six times.” Luckily for the chef’s son a female doctor, who was also shopping at the market kept Mattia alive with CPR and first aid until paramedics arrived and rushed him to Goztepe City Hospital.
Mattia is the son of internationally acclaimed Italian chef Andrea Minguzzi and celebrated classical cellist Yasemin Akincilar. His horrified dad Andrea took to social media to say: “He had asked his mother for money and permission to go out. They wanted to buy skateboard parts and clothing. At the flea market, imported items sell out early, so they went in the morning. This is a horrific incident. His internal organs are not in good condition, but we remain hopeful. Unfortunately, there’s little we can do. The doctors are taking excellent care of him. We are in their hands and in the hands of prayers.”
