MILAN (AP) — The lawyer for a real estate developer convicted Thursday in a deadly courthouse rampage that left three dead called "incredible" his client's surprise declaration that he had hidden his weapon in the courthouse months before the shooting.

Claudio Giardiello made the statement as the Brescia court prepared to deliver the guilty verdict and life sentence for the April 2015 shooting deaths of the defendant's lawyer, co-defendant and a judge.

Defense lawyer Andrea Pelle said the verdict "was preceded by this incredible declaration by Giardiello, who said that he left the pistol in the courthouse about three months earlier." Pelle said he didn't know whether to believe his client.

The news agency ANSA said that the prosecutor planned to question Giardiello about the assertion, which didn't emerge during the trial.