Gunman kills 4 outside school in France
Source: Agencies |
March 20, 2012, Tuesday
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A MOTORCYCLE gunman opened fire yesterday in front of a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two young sons and a schoolgirl, the prosecutor's office said.
It was the third deadly motorcycle shooting in the same area in recent days.
A 30-year-old rabbi and his 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons were killed just before classes started at the Ozar Hatorah school, a junior high and high school in a quiet residential neighborhood, Toulouse Prosecutor Michel Valet said.
Another child, the 8-year-old daughter of the school principal, was also killed, school officials said. Valet said a 17-year-old boy was also seriously wounded and in the operating ward of a city hospital.
"He shot at everything he had in front of him, children and adults," Valet said. "The children were chased inside the school."
French prosecutors were studying possible terrorist links but the motive for the attack was unclear. The attack shocked the country and prompted strong emotions and high-level discussions in Israel.
A French police official said the same gun was used to kill three paratroopers last week.
The official said the gunman fired 15 shots from the gun yesterday. The official said the same gun was used in the two attacks last week.
One of those attacks, in Toulouse, killed a paratrooper.
The other one, in nearby Montauban, killed two paratroopers and left another seriously injured.
The official is not authorized to be named because the investigation is under way.
The motive for the killings is unclear.
Religious minorities and issues of race have emerged as a prominent issue in France's current presidential campaign.
The paratroopers killed and injured were of North African and French Caribbean origin, and the targets yesterday were Jewish.
President Nicolas Sarkozy rushed to the school, denouncing "the savagery" of the attack and vowing to track down the killer or killers.
"We will find him," he said.
"It's a day of national tragedy," Sarkozy said. "The barbarity, the savagery, the cruelty cannot win. Hate cannot win. The nation is much stronger."
Sarkozy ordered increased security at Jewish and Muslim buildings around Toulouse, while his prime minister told officials to "secure" all school and religious buildings in the entire country.
Sarkozy's challengers for the presidential vote in April and May also rushed to the scene.
In each of the attacks, the same large caliber bullet - 11.43 - was used.
The slain rabbi was Johnathan Sandler, who taught Yiddish at the school, according to another teacher, Uriel Torjmane. Sandler arrived here from Jerusalem last September with his wife and children, according to Zionist activist Charlotte Elbaz.
France has the largest Jewish community in Western Europe, estimated at about 500,000, as well as its largest Muslim population, about 5 million.
Toulouse, a southwestern city north of the Pyrenees, has about 10,000 to 15,000 Jews in its overall population of 440,000, said Jean-Paul Amoyelle, the president of the Ozar Hatorah school network in France.
It was the third deadly motorcycle shooting in the same area in recent days.
A 30-year-old rabbi and his 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons were killed just before classes started at the Ozar Hatorah school, a junior high and high school in a quiet residential neighborhood, Toulouse Prosecutor Michel Valet said.
Another child, the 8-year-old daughter of the school principal, was also killed, school officials said. Valet said a 17-year-old boy was also seriously wounded and in the operating ward of a city hospital.
"He shot at everything he had in front of him, children and adults," Valet said. "The children were chased inside the school."
French prosecutors were studying possible terrorist links but the motive for the attack was unclear. The attack shocked the country and prompted strong emotions and high-level discussions in Israel.
A French police official said the same gun was used to kill three paratroopers last week.
The official said the gunman fired 15 shots from the gun yesterday. The official said the same gun was used in the two attacks last week.
One of those attacks, in Toulouse, killed a paratrooper.
The other one, in nearby Montauban, killed two paratroopers and left another seriously injured.
The official is not authorized to be named because the investigation is under way.
The motive for the killings is unclear.
Religious minorities and issues of race have emerged as a prominent issue in France's current presidential campaign.
The paratroopers killed and injured were of North African and French Caribbean origin, and the targets yesterday were Jewish.
President Nicolas Sarkozy rushed to the school, denouncing "the savagery" of the attack and vowing to track down the killer or killers.
"We will find him," he said.
"It's a day of national tragedy," Sarkozy said. "The barbarity, the savagery, the cruelty cannot win. Hate cannot win. The nation is much stronger."
Sarkozy ordered increased security at Jewish and Muslim buildings around Toulouse, while his prime minister told officials to "secure" all school and religious buildings in the entire country.
Sarkozy's challengers for the presidential vote in April and May also rushed to the scene.
In each of the attacks, the same large caliber bullet - 11.43 - was used.
The slain rabbi was Johnathan Sandler, who taught Yiddish at the school, according to another teacher, Uriel Torjmane. Sandler arrived here from Jerusalem last September with his wife and children, according to Zionist activist Charlotte Elbaz.
France has the largest Jewish community in Western Europe, estimated at about 500,000, as well as its largest Muslim population, about 5 million.
Toulouse, a southwestern city north of the Pyrenees, has about 10,000 to 15,000 Jews in its overall population of 440,000, said Jean-Paul Amoyelle, the president of the Ozar Hatorah school network in France.
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