ROME — Two teenage American tourists were arrested on Saturday and accused of murder and attempted extortion in the fatal stabbing of a military police officer in Rome, Italian officials said.

The teenagers, identified as Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 18, both born in San Francisco, were accused of stabbing the officer, Deputy Brig. Mario Cerciello Rega of Italy’s military police, or carabinieri, on Friday morning. The officer had tried to recover a backpack the two men were accused of stealing a few hours earlier, officials said.

The suspects have admitted to the crime, according to a statement by the carabinieri press office.

The killing of the 35-year-old officer, who had recently returned to work after his honeymoon, shook Italians and spurred front-page newspaper headlines. “Rome, violent city. Carabiniere murdered” was the headline emblazoned on the Roman daily Il Tempo. The front page of another newspaper, Il Messaggero, read: “Killed to defend Rome,” while La Repubblica wrote, “Carabiniere killed in Rome’s drugland.”