Carabinieri from the Sorrento station and the local Radiomobile unit arrested a 76-year-old man after passers-by reported three gunshots coming from a private plot in Via Malacoccola, Sorrento.
When officers arrived, they found a single-barrel hunting rifle hidden in a plastic crate near the entrance of the property, concealed under animal-feed sacks. A round was already in the chamber.
Investigators described the weapon as clandestine, mechanically re-marked, and modified from calibre 24 to calibre 32. The man had previously been subject to revocation of his firearms licence and withdrawal of weapons.
A subsequent search uncovered 2,005 cartridges of various calibres, approximately 500 grams of gunpowder, 15 kilograms of lead pellets, and ammunition-reloading equipment. The weapons and materials were placed under seizure.
The man allegedly told officers that he had set off firecrackers for fun, and later said the rifle was used "per sparare a qualche topo." Those accounts have not been independently verified in court, and reports do not definitively establish whether he fired the three reported shots.
He was reported as being held at the disposal of the judicial authorities pending trial.
