Bodybuilding Gay Couple Brutally Slain in Their Home

Two members of the LGBTQ+ community in Malta were brutally gunned down in their home last week. Christian Pandolfino and Ivor Maciejowski were found dead in their residence in Sliema on Tuesday, August 18. The Times of Malta reported both men suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and police are looking for three persons captured on security cameras leaving the residence, as well as a suspected driver in an awaiting vehicle.

Friends of the two men told the Times of Malta Pandolfino had gone to dinner with family visiting from the U.K. when he left early to return home. When the family also returned to the residence later that evening, the two men were dead.

Pandolfino and Maciejowski were well-known and liked members of the local community, described as fixtures at the MedAsia Playa beach club. Both men were devoted bodybuilders. Pandolfino was a doctor who had returned to Malta after several years working as an investment banker in the United Kingdom. He was a shareholder in Art Decor Properties and Interiors. Ivor Maciejowski was a British national of Polish descent. He was a contemporary art dealer who had owned an online gallery based in the U.K. called Thank You Editions. The business dissolved last year.

The two men had an extensive collection of art in their home, pictures of which they often shared on Instagram. While many may have initially assumed their deaths were the result of a homophobic hate crime, Malta Pride, a local LGBTQ+ group, speculated the crime may have instead been "a botched hold up" and cautioned others to take a "wait and see" approach before "making any rash conclusions" regarding the crime.

"They were so kind to me when I served them everytime we chatted and talked about good things," remembered Steph Spiteri on Facebook.

Another friend mourned their loss, but also remained focused on capturing the couple's killers.

"What a sad world," Keith Caruana observed on Facebook. "Let's hope the aggressor gets caught and passes through hell."

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