Bari Sardo stabbing: 19-year-old killed after car hits couple, but alternative account points to revenge attack
A 19-year-old man was stabbed to death in Bari Sardo on Wednesday afternoon after a car struck him and a female companion. Carabinieri are investigating two sharply different versions of events, including one in which the victim was the driver who first hit a 16-year-old girl.
The incident
At around 18:00–18:30 on Wednesday, 22 July 2026, a car hit two pedestrians near the sports field in Bari Sardo, a small town in Sardinia's Ogliastra region. Within minutes, the male victim was stabbed repeatedly and died on the street. The 118 medical service, supported by an Areus helicopter, rushed to the scene, but resuscitation efforts failed. The female companion suffered severe leg injuries and was airlifted to the Brotzu hospital in Cagliari. Firefighters from Tortolì also responded.
Two competing versions
Initial reports from ANSA, Open, and Il Giornale described the attacker as the driver of the car. In that version, the motorist deliberately struck the couple, then got out and knifed the young man before fleeing. The victim was named as Simone Concas, with early dispatches giving his age as 25, later corrected to 19. However, Tgcom24 published a sharply different account later in the evening. It reported that Concas was the driver who first hit a 16-year-old girl and then sped away. The girl's brother and boyfriend allegedly chased him down and stabbed him to death. Tgcom24 stated that this new dynamic contradicted the earlier narrative of a driver attacking a couple.
## Investigation Carabinieri from the Lanusei company and the Nuoro provincial command are leading the inquiry. They are collecting witness statements and analyzing CCTV footage from the area. Prosecutor Paola Dal Monte of the Lanusei court visited the crime scene to oversee the investigation. As of Wednesday night, no arrests had been made, and the search for the perpetrator or perpetrators was ongoing. The conflicting accounts have complicated the probe, with investigators not ruling out either a random attack or a retaliatory killing.
Search for the assailant
The attacker or attackers remain at large. Carabinieri have not disclosed whether they are pursuing a single suspect or multiple individuals. The contradictory narratives have made the manhunt more complex, as the identity of the victim and the aggressor are still being verified. Local media report that the area near the sports field was cordoned off for forensic examination.
Casualties and identification
The deceased has been identified as Simone Concas, a 19-year-old resident of Bari Sardo. The girl who was with him at the time of the stabbing sustained serious leg trauma and remains hospitalized in Cagliari. In the alternative scenario, a 16-year-old girl was the initial victim of the car strike, but her condition has not been detailed. The only undisputed facts are that a young man died from multiple knife wounds on a Bari Sardo street and a young woman was badly injured.
