Shooting attack targeting Turi Gambardella

The shooting attack targeting Turi Gambardella begins as an abrupt burst of gunfire at a petrol station and develops into a pursuit before the police establish who the intended victim was. The scene joins gang violence to an ordinary service stop: an attack on one driver endangers others at the station and leaves the identity of the target uncertain until an attendant is questioned again.

Course of the Attack

When Inspector Montalbano arrives, a police car and a private vehicle are blocking the station entrances. Gasoline has spread across the ground from a pump left running, creating a hazardous pool while firefighters are summoned. A car with a Palermo licence plate stands nearby with its windscreen shattered; the station attendant has been taken away by ambulance after being injured in the incident.

The attendant recounts a rapid sequence. One driver had stopped to refuel, and the attendant left the nozzle pumping automatically while he served another customer, who had asked for thirty thousand in gas and a quick oil check. A car passing on the road then fired a burst from a sub-machine gun and disappeared into traffic. The driver of the first car immediately set off after it, leaving the nozzle to slip free and gasoline to continue spilling. The second customer had been struck by a bullet, and the attendant helped him once the immediate danger appeared to have passed.

Identification and Police Response

Montalbano does not accept the attendant’s account as complete. After asking whether he had clearly seen the driver of the car that pursued the gunmen, he tells Sergeant Fazio to take the attendant to the station once the firefighters have finished and question him more firmly. The inspector suspects the man knows who the attackers were targeting; Fazio shares that suspicion. Montalbano also guesses that the victim belongs to the Cuffaro gang, reasoning that this month it is their turn to be attacked. At this stage, that remains a prediction rather than an established motive or explanation for the shooting.

The attendant’s memory later becomes more precise: he identifies Turi Gambardella, a member of the Cuffaro gang, as the driver the assailants had tried to kill. The identification confirms Montalbano’s guess about the target, while the attack’s wider circumstances remain unresolved in the account. The scene thus moves from a burst of violence whose victim is uncertain to a named gang member, with the attendant’s delayed recognition providing the decisive link.

Gambardella’s Absence

The identification leads to an immediate check on Gambardella, but not to his recovery: Fazio reports that Galluzzo has gone to his house and that Gambardella’s wife has not seen him for two days. This leaves the attack’s central figure unavailable even after the attendant supplies his name. The report establishes only his recent absence; it does not explain where he has been or what happened after the shooting.

What the Evidence Establishes

The episode distinguishes three levels of knowledge: the attendant’s account of the shooting, Montalbano’s suspicion that the witness knows more, and the later identification of Gambardella as the intended target. That progression matters because the inspector’s initial prediction is not itself proof; the attendant’s subsequent recognition supplies the confirmation. Even then, the account identifies the target without identifying the gunmen or explaining their reason for attacking him. The incident’s immediate reconstruction is therefore firmer than its motive: the investigation can name the man in danger, but the violence that brought him there remains unexplained.