Gunman opens fire on Italian police outside prime minister's office
Two Italian police officers have been wounded after a gunman opened fire outside the prime minister's office in Rome.
By Agencies
11:07AM BST 28 Apr 2013
Officials said the shootings took place around 11am as prime minister Enrico Letta's cabinet was being sworn in at the presidential palace nearby.
The motive for the attack is as yet unknown, although officials said that a man had been arrested in connection with the incident. He was reportedly wearing a suit and tie, and was named by Italian media as businessman Luigi Preiti, 49.
One of the wounded police officers had been shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, a police official said. Pictures from the scene showed a man in police uniform lying on a cobbled street while being attended to by other officers, bleeding from the neck.
The area around the Palazzo Chigi, a 16th century building that also serves as the prime minister's official residence, was sealed off. Five or six shots were fired and police had found five spent shells from a small calibre weapon.
A police official told Reuters that the man was from the southern region of Calabria and having fired several shots at the two police on duty outside the prime minister's office, he shouted "shoot me, shoot me" to other police nearby.
"We still have to understand who he is. He's been caught," Antonio Catricala, a cabinet undersecretary in the former government told reporters.
The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, added: "It's not an act of terrorism but certainly the climate of the past few months has not helped."
He added: "This is the act of a mad, psychologically disturbed man."
An aide to Foreign Minister Emma Bonino told reporters at the presidential palace that the new Cabinet members were being kept inside until the situation became more clear.
The shooting immediately sparked ugly memories of the 1970s and 1980s when domestic terrorism plagued Italy during a time of high political tensions between right-wing and left-wing blocs.
Mr Letta, who at 46 is one of the European Union's youngest prime ministers, is expected to unveil his programme in a parliamentary session on Monday, before the government is put to a confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday.
Mr Letta, who is deputy head of the moderate Democratic Party (PD), on Saturday ended two months of post-election political stalemate when he brought together former political rivals in a broad coalition government.
On Sunday, his ministers stepped forward one by one to swear allegiance to the republic before President Giorgio Napolitano, who personally picked Mr Letta as prime minister and had a central role in the choice of his cabinet team.
