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| The shooting occurred just before the start of classes at Ozar Hatorah Jewish school |
Paris: A father and his two sons were among four people who died Monday when a gunman opened fire in front of a Jewish school in a city in southwest France, the Toulouse prosecutor said.
Michel Valet said the 30-year-old man and his 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons were killed in the shooting just before school started. He said another child around 10 years old was also killed, and a 17-year-old seriously injured.
The shooting occurred about 8:10 am (local time) just ahead of the start of classes in most schools. The shooter drove away on a scooter, police said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared a shooting to be a “national tragedy” and vowed to find the killer. Visiting the scene in Toulouse, Sarkozy announced a minute of silence in all French schools on Tuesday and said the state would throw its entire weight behind the investigation.
The shooting happened in the same area where a gunman on a motorbike opened fire on three uniformed paratroopers on Thursday, killing two and critically wounding the other. Four days earlier, a gunman on a motorbike had shot and killed another paratrooper.
While it was not immediately clear if all three shootings are related, Sarkozy said there were striking similarities between the Jewish school shooting and the killing of three soldiers earlier.
“We are struck by the similarities between the modus operandi of today's drama and those last week, even if we have to wait to have more elements from the police to confirm this hypothesis,” Sarkozy said. AGENCIES |
