Gunman Kills Three Children, Teacher at French Jewish School

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A gunman burst into a Jewish school in France on Monday, shooting dead three children and a teacher in the third deadly gun attack in a week by a man who made his escape on a motorbike.

The children, aged three, six and 10, and a 30-year-old religious education teacher were mowed down as they arrived for class at the Ozar Hatorah School in the southwestern city of Toulouse, officials said.

The gunman shot a man outside the school before one of his weapons jammed and he then entered the school grounds where he sprayed the area with bullets, a local prosecutor said.

"He shot at everything he could see, children and adults, and some children were chased into the school," prosecutor Michel Valet told reporters, adding that the school has around 200 pupils.

Parents of children at the school said a teacher and his two children were among the dead.

The prosecutor said that one person was seriously wounded in the attack, which came just days after two previous shootings in the region by a man on a motorbike that killed three soldiers.

There was no hard evidence of a link between the shootings, but Interior Minister Claude Gueant told Agence France Presse that there were "similarities" and police said the same calibre weapon was used in all three attacks.

The gunman initially used a 9-mm weapon but it jammed, so he switched to a .45-calibre gun as he went into the school, police said. A .45-calibre weapon was used in last week's deadly shootings.

Gueant ordered security to be tightened around all Jewish schools in France after the Toulouse attack and said he was heading for the city where he was due to be joined by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy said it was "much too early" to link Monday's shootings with the killings last week.

Police in southwestern France launched a major manhunt last week after the killing of three paratroopers and the wounding of another in two separate, but connected incidents.

The perpetrator of both attacks fled on a motorbike.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said there was as yet no evidence to suggest the soldiers had been killed because of their service in Afghanistan.

Between 50 and 60 police officers, including anti-terrorist specialists, have been drafted in to the investigation.

Senior military officials have ordered troops based in the region not to wear their uniforms outside barracks.

The first victim, a 30-year-old non-commissioned officer, was dressed in civilian clothes when he was shot dead in the street at point blank range on March 11.

The gunman escaped on a powerful motorbike or scooter.

On Thursday three more paratroopers, based this time in Montauban, 46 kilometers away, were shot while standing at a cash machine outside their barracks.

Two of Thursday's victims -- sappers from 17th Parachute Engineering Regiment (RGP) aged 26 and 24 -- died on the spot. The third man, a 28-year-old from the same regiment was left in a critical condition with spinal injuries.

Witnesses saw a black-clad motorcyclist walk up to the men, who were in uniform but unarmed, and open fire at point blank range.

Witnesses described how the killer had time to turn over one of the wounded men who was trying to crawl away and fire three more shots into him before getting back on his scooter and making his escape.

The increased security measures apply to a whole swathe of the southwest, including Toulouse, Montauban, Pamiers and Tarbes, towns and cities that are home to most of France's elite airborne units.

Comments 22
Default-user-icon Kass (Guest) 19 March 2012, 12:57

The senseless killing of children of any religion, any color, any creed, any persuasion, any culture, any nationality should be condemned by ALL! And yes Jewish & Palestinian children TOO!

Default-user-icon Murad (Guest) 19 March 2012, 13:02

well of course! Toulouse has only one .45 calibre and only one scooter! It's got to be the same camel Jockey that did it, right?

Missing aris 19 March 2012, 15:08

habal's brother without any doubt whatsoever

Default-user-icon Horus (Guest) 19 March 2012, 15:20

Coward

Thumb geha 19 March 2012, 15:22

if they can pin this to hizbushaitan, then the israeli war will immediately start.

Default-user-icon Ali A (Guest) 19 March 2012, 17:32

it is really tragic, may they rest in peace...yes geha, I agree with you....that's what is going to happen.. I have just read something in the German news: http://www.bild.de/home/telegramm/home-telegramm/telegramm-15478948,textId=23223138,tabindex=0.bild.html - a former Mossad director believes that Iran and/or Hizbollah are behind it...

Default-user-icon Rusty Gimbabi (Guest) 19 March 2012, 18:04

He is grown-up in years but he is a retard and should therefore be ignored. But then most M14ers are. No wonder they cannot even handle basic logic.

Thumb geha 19 March 2012, 18:25

no Mowaten, you grow up and realize the end is near for the syro/iranians :)

Default-user-icon MUSTAPHA O. GHALAYINI (Guest) 19 March 2012, 15:34

the timing is very "louche"

Default-user-icon assaad (Guest) 19 March 2012, 16:23

You guys are so much full of hatred that in your mind everything has to be related to the Hizb. Get your facts right before posting nonsense. The killer is most probably the same guy who killed 3 french soldiers, and did you know that the 3 were of north african and caribean origin? And now the attack on the jewish school. It is almost surely the work of a french neo nazi. So please stop posting nonsense.

Default-user-icon Leo (Guest) 19 March 2012, 16:54

Don't jump to baseless conclusions, please. There is plently of sickos in this world that would do this crime without a political agenda.

Missing aris 19 March 2012, 17:26

i hope so we can get rid of hassouni and his turban

Default-user-icon hass (Guest) 19 March 2012, 18:28

i hope we can get rid of u in this page

Thumb libnani 19 March 2012, 19:10

As a Lebanese citizen who would love for hezbollah to disarm, I have no idea how they are related to this article.

Thumb libnani 19 March 2012, 19:10

I hope he is not Muslim -__-

Thumb primesuspect 19 March 2012, 19:59

H isn't muslim as 3-4 days ago the same shooter killed 3 French (moroccan origin) soldiers. This loco is probably a faschist... Hezbollah-style/LePen-style....citizen.

Thumb joesikemrex 20 March 2012, 05:37

I hope you are right, and they get him soon, before more innocent lives are cut down.

Thumb joesikemrex 20 March 2012, 05:36

The statistics point to a terrorist, a misguided muslim most likely. RIP children.

Default-user-icon JH (Guest) 20 March 2012, 10:44

No, the statistics points to a neo nazi ex-soldier (being layed off duty recently due to his neo nazi affiliation, the unsub infact killed 3 soldiers with maghrebi's origins before the latest killings).

Default-user-icon MUSTAPHA O. GHALAYINI (Guest) 19 March 2012, 19:55

timing is suspicious for the hungarian jew in the elysee

Thumb benzona 19 March 2012, 23:16

Francois Hollande is also a Jew.... However Marine LePen isn't.

Default-user-icon JH (Guest) 20 March 2012, 10:13

Any accidents, or terrorism will be a setback for sarkozy's politics, since people will accuse him of not "securing" the country. The killer's motives were (probably) first political (and/or religious, and was precise) but after the first killings, he got a taste for it (he probably loved the rush of riding a scooter and shooting people), leading him to a change of aimo and profile, which will lead him to mass-murder and will finish by a suicide when cops will be close to arresting him.