GIULIANI AND GAGGIO v. ITALY JUDGMENT – SEPARATE OPINIONS 99 individually, it cannot be concluded that there was a serious threat to his person of such imminence that only shots fired at chest height could have averted it. While it is true that the jeep was surrounded by demonstrators and that various objects were being thrown at it, the fact remains, as shown by the photographs in the file, that when M.P. drew his pistol and opened fire no one with the exception of Carlo Giuliani was attacking him directly, individually and at close range. The firing of shots into the air would probably have been enough to disperse the assailants; if not, M.P. would still have had time to defend himself by means of further shots, this time targeting those individuals who, despite the warning shots, chose to continue the attack. It should be borne in mind in that regard that M.P. had an automatic pistol which was loaded with fifteen rounds of ammunition. 7. In the light of the foregoing, and as we have already observed, it was of decisive importance to establish the trajectory of the bullets fired by M.P. On this point, two theories were put forward. According to the first, defended by the applicants, the fatal shot was fired at chest height; according to the second, supported by the Government and considered more likely by the investigating judge, the bullet was fired upwards and was deflected in the direction of Carlo Giuliani after colliding with an object (probably a stone) thrown by the demonstrators. 8. If we accept the latter version of events, namely that the bullet was fired upwards, any appearance of a violation of Article 2 can be ruled out, on the basis that an unforeseeable and uncontrollable factor turned M.P.'s warning action into a fatal shot (see Bakan v. Turkey, no. 50939/99, §§ 52-56, 12 June 2007, in which a warning shot fired during a chase ricocheted and accidentally killed the applicants' relative, prompting the Court to find that the death had been caused by “misadventure”). Even amidst the panic generated by a violent and unexpected attack, law-enforcement officers should be expected to fire warning shots before resorting to lethal force. However, they cannot be deprived of any means of defence by being required to allow for the possibility – statistically unlikely but theoretically always present during clashes between police and demonstrators – that the trajectory of a missile could be deflected following a collision with a flying object. 9. If, on the other hand, M.P. fired at chest height, it would have to be concluded, in our view, that the use of lethal force was not “absolutely necessary” within the meaning of Article 2 of the Convention. 10. In these circumstances it is regrettable that the domestic investigation was unable to establish with certainty whether or not the bullet ricocheted off an object before striking Carlo Giuliani. The investigating judge simply stated that the powerful nature of the weapon and the low resistance of the body tissue through which the bullet had travelled “served to confirm” “the intermediate object theory”.