By . Mail Foreign Service . PUBLISHED: . 04:57 EST, 28 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:05 EST, 28 April 2013 . This is the dramatic moment a gunman is wrestled to the ground by paramilitary police guarding Italy's new government. Two officers were shot as they took down the attacker, half a mile from where members of parliament were being sworn in in Rome yesterday. The drama unfolded while the new prime minister Enrico Letta and his staff took their oaths at the presidential palace. Scroll down for video . Caught: The attacker, his gun in the foreground, grimaces in pain as he is held by police officers . Treatment: A Carabinieri police officer lies injured on the ground after the shooting in Rome . Rome prosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani said the 'desperate' man, a 49-year-old bricklayer, had 'lost work, had lost everything'. 'He is a man full of problems,' he . said. 'He wanted to shoot at politicians, but given he couldn't reach . any, he shot at the Carabinieri paramilitary police.' Target: Prime Minister Enrico Letta . The man, identified as Luigi Preiti, . is from Calabria, a southern agricultural area plagued by organised . crime and chronic unemployment. One of the officers was shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, and the other was shot in the leg. Preiti 'confessed everything', and did not appear mentally unbalanced, officials said. The shooting comes at a difficult . time for Italy, which has suffered badly from the recession in the . eurozone and had been in political deadlock since an inconclusive . February election. It also sparked ugly memories of the 1970s and 1980s, when domestic terrorism plagued the country. Dressed in a dark business suit, . Preiti was seen walking along a narrow street that leads to the Colonna . Square outside the premier's office, when police stopped him. He then . began firing. Interior minister Angelino Alfano . said Preiti also wanted to kill himself but ran out of bullets. Six . shots were fired, in what appeared to be an 'isolated act'. He shouted 'shoot me, shoot me' to other officers nearby, police said. Reaction: Carabinieri police and Guardia di Finanza patrol around the area where gunshots were fired . Keep back: It was initially unclear whether the attack in Rome was linked to the launch of the new government . In a surreal scene, outgoing prime . minister Mario Monti received a trumpet salute at the nearby Chigi . palace before walking across the cordoned-off square past police . crouching over the scene of the shooting. Preiti's uncle told new agencies his . nephew had had to move back to his parents' home because he could not . find work. He was a 'great worker', he added. 'He could build a house . from top to bottom,' he said. The more seriously injured of the two police officers was a 50-year-old brigadier. A bullet had entered the right side of the officer's neck, damaged his spinal column and was lodged near his shoulder. It was not 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.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT .
Two police officers were shot as they took down the attacker in Rome .
Drama unfolded while new prime minister Enrico Letta was sworn in .
One of the officers was shot in the neck and is in a serious condition .
Shooter, a bricklayer, 49, was a 'desperate' man who 'lost everything'
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By . Mail Foreign Service . PUBLISHED: . 04:57 EST, 28 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:05 EST, 28 April 2013 . This is the dramatic moment a gunman is wrestled to the ground by paramilitary police guarding Italy's new government. Two officers were shot as they took down the attacker, half a mile from where members of parliament were being sworn in in Rome yesterday. The drama unfolded while the new prime minister Enrico Letta and his staff took their oaths at the presidential palace. Scroll down for video . Caught: The attacker, his gun in the foreground, grimaces in pain as he is held by police officers . Treatment: A Carabinieri police officer lies injured on the ground after the shooting in Rome . Rome prosecutor Pierfilippo Laviani said the 'desperate' man, a 49-year-old bricklayer, had 'lost work, had lost everything'. 'He is a man full of problems,' he . said. 'He wanted to shoot at politicians, but given he couldn't reach . any, he shot at the Carabinieri paramilitary police.' Target: Prime Minister Enrico Letta . The man, identified as Luigi Preiti, . is from Calabria, a southern agricultural area plagued by organised . crime and chronic unemployment. One of the officers was shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, and the other was shot in the leg. Preiti 'confessed everything', and did not appear mentally unbalanced, officials said. The shooting comes at a difficult . time for Italy, which has suffered badly from the recession in the . eurozone and had been in political deadlock since an inconclusive . February election. It also sparked ugly memories of the 1970s and 1980s, when domestic terrorism plagued the country. Dressed in a dark business suit, . Preiti was seen walking along a narrow street that leads to the Colonna . Square outside the premier's office, when police stopped him. He then . began firing. Interior minister Angelino Alfano . said Preiti also wanted to kill himself but ran out of bullets. Six . shots were fired, in what appeared to be an 'isolated act'. He shouted 'shoot me, shoot me' to other officers nearby, police said. Reaction: Carabinieri police and Guardia di Finanza patrol around the area where gunshots were fired . Keep back: It was initially unclear whether the attack in Rome was linked to the launch of the new government . In a surreal scene, outgoing prime . minister Mario Monti received a trumpet salute at the nearby Chigi . palace before walking across the cordoned-off square past police . crouching over the scene of the shooting. Preiti's uncle told new agencies his . nephew had had to move back to his parents' home because he could not . find work. He was a 'great worker', he added. 'He could build a house . from top to bottom,' he said. The more seriously injured of the two police officers was a 50-year-old brigadier. A bullet had entered the right side of the officer's neck, damaged his spinal column and was lodged near his shoulder. It was not 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.
were shot as they took down the attacker, half a sworn in in Rome yesterday. The drama unfolded while the new prime minister Enrico Letta and his 'desperate' man, a 49-year-old bricklayer, had 'lost work, had lost everything'. 'He is a man of the officers was shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, and the other was shot in the police officers was a 50-year-old brigadier. A