Salvatore Calvaruso, 19, initially confessed spontaneously but later exercised his right to remain silent before the prosecutor. He has been arrested on charges of participating in the Saturday night shooting in Monreale that left three young men dead and two others injured. His initial statements, made without legal counsel, are currently inadmissible.

The incident occurred outside a pizzeria in the city center, near Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. According to investigators, Salvatore Turdo, 23, and his cousin Andrea Miceli, 26, had reprimanded a group of youths for reckless scooter driving. The altercation escalated quickly: after an assault with helmets, more than 20 shots were fired. Among the victims was also 26-year-old Massimo Pirozzo, who happened to be walking by.

Two others were wounded: Nicolò Cangemi, 33, was shot in the leg while trying to disarm one of the attackers, and a 16-year-old boy survived miraculously after being shot in the neck.

Calvaruso, a resident of Palermo’s Zen neighborhood with prior offenses, was identified through surveillance footage, witness statements, and the recovery of his glasses lost during the fight. A friend also told prosecutors he had lent Calvaruso the scooter used on the night of the shooting and that Calvaruso later asked him to report it stolen.

The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office has charged Calvaruso with mass murder, emphasizing that firing multiple shots into a crowded street — with between 50 and 100 people present — severely endangered public safety. “It was purely by chance that there weren’t even more victims,” the arrest warrant states. Meanwhile, the search for four accomplices continues.