Jobless man ‘wanted to shoot politicians’

A prosecutor says Italian politicians were the intended target of a gunman who shot and wounded two policemen in a crowded square outside the premier’s office in Rome.

The attack came just as Italy’s new government was being sworn in elsewhere in the city. Italy has suffered political deadlock since an inconclusive February election.

Rome prosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani told reporters he had questioned the alleged assailant, who was taken to a hospital with bruises after being wrestled to the ground.

Mr Laviani says the “desperate” gunman had “lost work, had lost everything”. He said the man “wanted to shoot politicians, but given that he couldn’t reach any, he shot the Carabinieri” police at the edge of Chigi Square.

The man “confessed everything” and did not appear mentally unbalanced, Mr Laviani added.

The unemployed Italian gunman was dressed in a suit when he carried out the attack.

Shots rang out in Chigi Square near a busy shopping and strolling area shortly after 11.30am just as Premier Enrico Letta and his new ministers were taking their oaths at the Quirinal presidential office, about 1km away.

The suspected gunman, dressed in a dark business suit, was immediately grabbed by other police in the square, wrestled to the ground and taken away.

The shooting “was the tragic gesture of an unemployed man,” Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told reporters after briefing Letta and his new cabinet about the attack.

A woman passing by during the shooting was also slightly injured, Rome’s mayor said. It was unclear if she was grazed by a bullet or hurt in the panic sparked by the gunfire.

Tensions have been running high in Italy following inconclusive elections in February that left the country mired in political deadlock amid a deep recession.

The 46-year-old Letta nailed down a coalition deal on Saturday between two bitter political enemies — his centre-left forces and the conservative bloc of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Reporters inside the Chigi Palace press office heard the shots and raced outside. Two wounded Carabinieri officers were laying on the ground of the square outside the palace. One had blood pouring out of his neck.

Alfano said the alleged gunman — 49-year-old Luigi Preiti — wanted to kill himself after the shooting but ran out of bullets. He said six shots were fired.

Security was immediately stepped up near key venues in the Italian capital, but Alfano said authorities were not worried about related attacks.

“The general situation of public order is not causing any worry,” he said. “Our initial investigation indicates the incident is due to an isolated gesture, although further investigations are being carried out.”

Doctors at Rome’s Umberto I Polyclinic said the more seriously injured of the two police officers was a 50-year-old brigadier. They told reporters that a bullet had entered the right side of the officer’s neck, damaged his spinal column and was lodged near his shoulder.

The doctors said it wasn’t yet known if the spinal column injury had caused any paralysis.

The other victim was a 30-year-old officer who was shot in the leg and had suffered a fracture, hospital officials said.

Preiti was taken to another Rome hospital. News reports said a protective collar was seen around the man’s neck.

Sky TG24 TV quoted the man’s brother as saying the alleged attacker had lost his job in a construction firm and was upset over marital problems.