Overland Park man charged with murder in Italian shopkeeper’s beating studied at UMKC
The 22-year-old Overland Park man charged with murder Saturday in the killing of a shopkeeper in Viterbo, Italy, attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City for two semesters but did not graduate.
Michael Aaron Pang is accused of beating the 74-year-old shop worker to death after he was unable to pay for clothes in the small town near Rome, according to Italy’s paramilitary police, the Carabinieri.
The shopkeeper, Norveo Fedeli, was hit with a stool and was found dead in his shop Friday, local media reported.
Pang was born in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and graduated from Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park.
He then attended UMKC for two semesters, in fall 2015 and spring 2016, a UMKC spokesman said. He was enrolled in the college’s school of computing and engineering but did not earn a degree.
Pang is a graphic designer who arrived in Italy about two months ago on a tourist visa, according to his lawyer, Remigio Sicilia. He rented a room at a bed and breakfast in the village of Capodimonte.
The lawyer said Pang had a desire to learn Italian and work in Italy. He reportedly does not speak Italian and used his mobile phone translator to communicate.
“He’s 22, but he is like a child,” the lawyer said. “He’s a well-behaved boy from a good American family.”
Pang allegedly ordered designer clothes worth about $670 from Fedeli’s store and went to the store twice before Friday to purchase them. His credit card, however, was rejected.
A scuffle broke out between Pang and Fedeli before Pang killed the storekeeper, police said. Pang changed his clothes and took Fedeli’s wallet before fleeing with one of his shoes covered in a bag.
Police allegedly found Fedeli’s wallet and other evidence in the room Pang rented.
When Pang was arrested in nearby Capodimonte, the lake town where he was reportedly living, he had cuts on his hands and “traces of blood on his shoe,” according to a reporter in Rome for The Guardian.
Pang faces murder and robbery charges. The area’s prosecutor told local reporters they had strong evidence to charge Pang.
Pang’s family is not traveling to Italy, Sicilia told a reporter with Il Messaggero, an Italian newspaper based in Rome. Sicilia could not immediately be reached by The Star for comment Monday. Pang’s parents did not return calls Sunday.
Viterbo’s mayor declared Monday a day of mourning for the shopkeeper, according to media reports. He called Fedeli “a good and kind man,” The Guardian reported.
“The murder of our citizen, Norveo Fedeli, has shattered us all,” said the mayor, Giovanni Arena, according to The Guardian.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 6, 2019 at 1:02 PM.
