The second-generation Moroccan migrant Salim El Koudri, who reportedly rammed multiple people in Modena, italy, on Sunday, wrote a sent a series of violent emails to the University of Modena in 2021. The emails contained hostile messages such as “You Christian bastards… You and your Jesus Christ, I’ll burn him.”
The extra threat layer will only increase pressure on Italian authorities, who failed to prevent the attack. Koudri was arrested after allegedly driving a Citroen C3 through the city center, where he hit seven people and left two victims with such catastrophic injuries that they required amputations of their lower limbs. One of the victims remains in a life-threatening condition.
🇮🇹Modena, Italy
5 years before the car and knife attack, the assailant of Moroccan origin, Salim El Koudri, had sent an email full of hatred against Christians and Jesus Christ to his university.
"You must employ me… You bloody Christian bastards You and your Jesus Christ on… pic.twitter.com/JbDdCjGgPA
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) May 18, 2026Rinaldo Frignani reports that the Modena attacker, who is currently in prison, had reached out to the top administration of the university where he previously completed his degree in business administration to request employment.
The investigation has focused heavily on these shocking messages, including one where he wrote, “You Christian bastards… you and your Jesus Christ (written in lowercase) on the cross, I’ll burn him.”
This email was sent on April 27, five years ago, as part of a series of emails directed at the university, according to Italian news outlet Corriere.
Investigators are analyzing four of these messages to reconstruct his psychological profile. They are trying to establish if the recent attack in the center of the Emilian city was an act of emulation, mimicking similar European massacres carried out by individuals. In some cases, these were individuals with mental health problems, but many of the attacks have involved Islamist extremists.
The email was reportedly sent over the man’s desire to work at the university. On that same evening, he clearly stated, “I want to work.”
He demanded a position that matched his qualifications, writing, “You have to hire me as an office clerk, not as a warehouse worker—got it? And right here in Modena, not out in the middle of nowhere where you’re left with €500 a month in your pocket if you’re lucky,” before repeating, “I want to work.”
Despite the hate-filled threats, he later followed up his emails with apologies to the administration.
“I apologize for my rudeness,” he wrote in one follow-up email.
His final message appeared to take a more civil tone, writing: “I can’t find a job consistent with my studies, and I don’t know what to do. I’m all alone; I’m 27 years old and living with my immigrant parents. What do you advise me to do? Thanks.”
Authorities are currently examining this aspect of his personality alongside the data recovered from his mobile phone. They are investigating various factors like his chronic unemployment, while also waiting for a response from Meta regarding social media posts that the platform had removed over the previous months for policy violations. The digital communication giant subsequently chose to permanently deactivate his account on Saturday evening.
According to Il Giornale, El Koudri told investigators, “I’m bullied, marginalized, and I live in a racist country.”
El Koudri was born in Seriate, near Bergamo, to Moroccan parents and lived alone in Ravarino, in the province of Modena. He is unemployed, has a degree in economics, and has no criminal record. He had previously received psychiatric treatment in 2022 for schizoid personality disorder.
