A 43-year-old deputy sergeant of the carabinieri, Sebastiano Giovanni Grasso, was seriously wounded in the head with a gunshot during a dispute that broke out in the churchyard of Santa Maria degli Ammalati, a hamlet of Acireale, in the Catanese area. The non-commissioned officer, who was not on duty, intervened to settle a quarrel between two of the families present for a first communion. One of the ‘contenders’ drew a gun and fired a shot hitting the soldier in the head. The non-commissioned officer is hospitalized with the reserved prognosis in the Cannizzaro hospital where he will undergo a delicate surgery.
Soon after, a 69-year-old was arrested accused of attempted murder and illegal carrying of a firearm. To put him in handcuffs, by order of the Public Prosecutor of Catania, were the carabinieri of the Radiomobile rate of the Acireale company. The same soldiers who had intervened for an ongoing brawl involving about ten people.
The deputy brigadier, on duty at the Aci Sant’Antonio station, free from duty and present for his son’s first communion, had intervened in support of the colleagues engaged in dividing the contenders. One of these, the 69-year-old, suddenly pulled out a gun hitting the deputy sergeant and was immediately blocked and disarmed by the Radiomobile military. where he will undergo a delicate surgery.