A double shooting in the Cagliari area left one man dead and a woman fighting for her life early Thursday morning. The suspect, a 39-year-old man from Cagliari, shot his wife and his brother in two separate locations before turning himself in to the Carabinieri and confessing.

What happened

The first emergency call reached the Carabinieri operations centre in Quartu Sant'Elena at around 5:45 a.m. The 118 medical service reported a woman shot in the head at a home in Solanas, a coastal hamlet of Sinnai. The shooter had fled by car. At 6:10 a.m., a second call requested urgent assistance in Margine Rosso, a locality in Quartu Sant'Elena, where another person had been hit by gunfire.

At 6:15 a.m., a 39-year-old man from Cagliari, who held a regular firearms licence, walked into a Carabinieri barracks and declared that he had just shot his wife and his brother. Officers and medical personnel arriving at the two scenes found the brother, aged 42 or 43 depending on the source, dead from a gunshot wound to the torso. The wife, aged 47 or 48, was rushed to the Brotzu hospital in Cagliari in critical condition with a head wound.

The victims

The woman was attacked first, in the Solanas residence. She was transported urgently to the Brotzu hospital, where she remains in critical condition. The brother was killed shortly afterwards in Quartu Sant'Elena. He died on the spot from a single shot to the trunk. Italian media reports indicate the two victims are the suspect's wife and his brother, though authorities have not released their names.

Suspect and surrender

The 39-year-old suspect, described as a legal firearm owner, presented himself spontaneously at a Carabinieri station less than half an hour after the first shooting. He admitted to both attacks and was immediately placed in custody. He is now at the disposal of the judicial authority while investigators from the Operational Unit and the Investigative Section's forensic team carry out technical examinations and crime-scene surveys at both locations.

Investigation and motive

According to the first reconstructions by investigators, cited by Sardinian media, the double shooting stemmed from family disputes. No further details on the exact trigger have been released. The Carabinieri are working to reconstruct the precise sequence of events and to clarify the relationships among the three individuals involved. The suspect remains under interrogation.