Ethan Elder, the father of 19-year-old Finnegan Elder, was accompanied to the Italian capital by a former San Francisco public defender.
Elder has been charged with aggravated homicide along with his friend Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 18, following the death of officer Cerciello Rega, who suffered multiple knife wounds in last Friday’s attack.
Elder has confessed to stabbing Cerciello, 35, with a US Marine partially serrated, close-quarters combat knife, according to police.
But he says he mistook the plain-clothed officer for a dangerous drug dealer and used the weapon in self-defence.
Elder’s father said on arrival in Rome that “the first thing I need to know is how to get into prison to see my son”, before heading directly with his lawyer to the city’s Regina Coeli prison, according to Italian media reports.
Meanwhile, Elder’s mother has spoken out about her son’s arrest.
“We feel like our world has come crashing down,” Leah Elder said in an interview with Italian daily La Stampa.
“I don’t know how to describe it.
“It’s like a nightmare we’ll wake up from.”
When asked about a violent incident when her son was younger, in which he punched a fellow teenager who fell and hit his head, she said it was part of a boxing ritual called “fight night” and not a sign that Finnegan was violent.
“Finn had agreed to take part in a match with a friend, the other kids were gathered around watching,” she said.
“He hit him and the boy fell and hit his head and was hurt badly, but recovered in a few days and is very well now.”
She added that he was ordered to perform community service and after that his criminal record was wiped clean.
