Luigi Preiti
ABC News
An unemployed bricklayer shot two Italian policemen in a crowded square outside the premier's office Sunday just as Italy's new government was being sworn in, investigators said.
The gunman's intended target was politicians but none were in the square so he shot at the Carabinieiri paramilitary police, Rome Prosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani told reporters, citing what he said were the suspect's own words.
Sunday was supposed to be a hopeful day when the debt-ridden nation finally got new government to solve its many problems. But shots rang out in Colonna Square near a busy shopping and strolling area shortly after 11:30 a.m. just as Premier Enrico Letta and his new ministers were taking their oaths at the Quirinal presidential office about a kilometer (half mile) away.
The suspected gunman, dressed in a dark business suit, was immediately wrestled to the ground by police outside Chigi Palace, which houses the premier's office and other government offices. The politicians went to the palace later Sunday for their first Cabinet meeting.
Laviani identified the alleged assailant as Luigi Preiti, a 49-year-old from Calabria, a southern agricultural area plagued by organized crime and chronic unemployment.
Laviani said Preiti, who was taken to the hospital for bruises, confessed to the shooting and didn't appear mentally unbalanced.
"He is a man full of problems, who lost his job, who lost everything," the prosecutor said. "He was desperate. In general, he wanted to shoot at politicians, but given that he couldn't reach any, he shot at the Carabinieri" paramilitary police.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the alleged gunman wanted to kill himself after the shooting but ran out of bullets. He said six shots were fired in all. The gunman used a semi-automatic pistol whose serial number had been scraped off.
There are fascinating differences between what happens in Italy and in the US. For one thing, the rarity of incidents like this. For another the police response. I suppose it's hard for Americans to understand how no police bullets were fired.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
You've been gone from the states too long and only watching movies it would seem--stereotyping that the only way these things go down in America is with a hail of gunfire.
ReplyDeleteOh, really?
DeleteWhy in the world would you argue this point? What's your motivation?
T., I'm beginning to suspect that anything I say you'll argue against. That's as bad a being a mindless minion of the NRA, which you've insisted you're not.
Is it from watching movies that I have the idea that in the US when someone shoots a couple cops and there are lots of other cops around, he'd be met with a hail of bullets? Is that from the movies???
How many times have we discussed the justification of shooting a guy to death whom I said could have been taken down another way, you always defending the cop shooters?
No, I'm afraid you're knee-jerk reaction to my comment lacked thought. Would you like to take it back?
No, it didn't lack thought. I thought of those times when I've defended what looked like a good shoot. I thought of times past when I've criticized bad shoots. I thought of good shoots gone wrong like at the Empire State building, and of bad shoots gone worse like the newspaper ladies in LA.
DeleteI also thought about times that I've read about cops drawing their guns but not firing on people since they could talk them down. About cops who've tackled shooters. About the Secret Service who tackled Hinckley rather than mowing him down.
From the excerpt you gave, we know that this guy ran out. I don't know if that factored into the fact that no police shot back--it may have just been a matter of the cops fearing hitting bystanders and being close enough to tackle him.
My problem was with your generalization that American cops all like to shoot people, and Italian cops are more civilized or some such and don't shoot. Each situation is different, and each cop is different. Some like to shoot folks, some don't.
Do we have problems throughout our police force here? Certainly! And when I see a problem, I'll criticize the hell out of it. What I'm not going to do is paint with a broad brush and insinuate that American cops would prefer to shoot someone rather than tackle him because they're American, and that the reason the Italians tackled this guy was because they were cultured Europeans rather than because that's what the situation called for.
My movie remark came from my college experience with International students who were pleased to find out that cops and common folk here weren't as boorish or violent as they expected from watching our movies. Maybe I was snippy with that part of my remarks, but I stand by my criticism of the generalization.
You're getting as bad as Greg in never giving in and never admitting to anything.
DeleteIt was unthinking of you to read so much into my remarks. You're hyper-sensitivity about "cultured Europe" vs. crude America is funny. Your knee-jerk overly defensive reaction was funny too.
Could you honestly see a situation like that one ending like it did in the US, with the shooter only bruised?
I already listed Hinckley, so apparently it's already happened at least once.
DeleteYour side often shows the attitude that Tennessean commented on. Your unwillingness to pay attention to your own behavior, Mikeb, is the problem here.
DeleteSpeaking for myself, when I'm shown to be wrong, I admit it. But you, Mikeb, merely believing that I'm wrong is not sufficient evidence.
That's a laugh, Greg. You refuse to admit when you're wrong and you always excuse the lies of others on your side. Colion just made an error, remember that one when he said a concealed carry holder stopped Loughner.
DeleteDo you even comprehend the difference between a lie and a misstatement? A lie is a deliberate error made to deceive. You're far too quick to accuse people of lying when they don't agree with you. Look at your own pack of liars first.
DeleteMy guess is that the only thing that saved the man was that he was in a crowded square and the officers practiced fire discipline. This is something that armed citizens do often. For example in the Tuscon shooting and the shooting in the Clackamas mall in Oregon.
ReplyDelete