Car Bomb Kills Arizona Developer Gary Lee Triano Killed In Country Club Parking Lot

A prominent real estate developer was killed when a bomb planted in his car exploded in a country club parking lot, scattering debris for hundreds of yards, authorities said.

“We had an assassination in the parking lot,” Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.

Gary Lee Triano of Tucson died instantly Friday night when his 1989 Lincoln Town Car exploded moments after a witness saw him talking with another man near the car.

The explosion tore off the roof of the car, scattered debris up to 200 yards, and sent the windshield into a swimming pool behind the country club, Dupnik said.

The bomb exploded beneath the car’s right, front passenger area, the sheriff said. No motive was known.

Family members had gathered at the country club for a surprise birthday party for Triano, who had been playing golf and would have turned 53 on Wednesday, Dupnik said.

The car was not registered to Triano, but his family said he had been driving it, sheriff’s Sgt. Michael G. O’Connor said.

A man who was sitting in a car next to Triano’s was treated at a hospital for a neck injury and cuts and released. Keisho Kudo, 25, said he noticed two men dressed in golf clothes approach Triano’s car. The men, who appeared to be in their 50s, greeted each other warmly and talked for a few minutes, he said.

“They looked like golf buddies who hadn’t seen each other in a long time,” Kudo said.

Kudo said Triano got in the car, turned the key and it blew up.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were called in along with the Violence Task Force of the U.S. attorney’s office.

Triano, whose developments included industrial parks and strip malls, also had ties to local gambling operations and was reportedly trying to launch casinos abroad.

In 1993, Triano was a partner in Bingo Partners Inc., which oversaw management of Papago Bingo.