OFFICIALS in a central Italian city have confirmed that a suspect in a drive-by shooting against foreigners has been apprehended.

The city of Macerata’s Twitter account says the gunman has been captured about two hours after he began a shooting rampage from a black car.

Authorities had warned citizens to stay inside Saturday local time while the shooter remained at large. The number of victims hasn’t been confirmed, but locals reports say as many as four were wounded.

Italian police say the victims of the drive-by shootings are all foreigners, and the news agency ANSA say they are black.

Macerata was the scene of the gruesome killing of a young white Italian woman this week, whose dismembered remains were found in two suitcases. The chief suspect is a Nigerian immigrant.

Police haven’t said how many people have been wounded in the shootings. The news agency ANSA said witnesses reported that the car was seen in the area where the woman’s body was found.

Italian news reports said that the car contained two people.

The ANSA news agency reported four victims have been wounded while Sky TG24 put the number of wounded at two.

Sky said the shooting started around 11amlocal time (9pm Saturday AEST) and that students were being kept inside schools which are open on Saturday, and public transport had been halted.

Marceta, about three hours south of Florence by car, has a population of 43,000.

More to come.