Hostages released, Toulouse gunman arrested
June 21, 2012, Thursday
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FRENCH police stormed a bank in Toulouse yesterday, arresting a gunman with psychiatric problems who claimed to be an al-Qaida militant and freeing his two hostages after a seven-hour siege. But prosecutors dismissed any connection of the gunman with the militant outfit.
The 26-year-old, who had taken four bank employees hostage in the morning in the same area where serial killer Mohamed Merah lived and was shot dead by police in March, was wounded in the stomach following the assault, police sources said.
The two other hostages, both women, had been released earlier, and no police officers were injured in the operation, which took place at 4:45pm local time.
Nearly seven hours earlier the man had entered the CIC bank, demanded money then fired a shot and taken the bank manager and other staff hostage, saying he wanted to negotiate with the elite RAID police unit that killed Merah.
Before the police went in local prosecutor Michel Valet said the gunman "wishes to make it known that this is not at all about money and that his motives are based on religious convictions."
"We don't yet know if this is a robbery that went wrong or if (the hostage taking) is a premeditated act," a police source had said earlier.
The man called himself "Boumaza" and had a criminal record, police said. Another source said he was schizophrenic and "may have stopped his treatment."
He was "put in a foster home when he was little and suffers from rage and fears the outside world," his sister said.
She said he was not very religious, adding, "we went to nightclubs and drank alcohol."
He entered the bank at around 10:00am and insistently asked for money but staff did not take him seriously, police said. He then produced a gun and took everyone hostage.
Parents of pupils at a nearby school were sent a text message telling them to pick up their children, witnesses said, and rapid-intervention GIPN police units were dispatched from Bordeaux and Marseille.
Killing spree
The RAID unit that shot Merah after he went on a killing spree is based in Paris, hundreds of kilometers to the north.
The CIC bank and Merah's former flat are within 500 meters of each other in Toulouse's Cote Pavee neighbourhood, east of the city center. Merah was killed at the end of a 32-hour siege of his flat after he shot dead seven people - three soldiers, and three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse - that shocked the country.
Toulouse, a city of around 500,000 people, lived in fear while police hunted the killer before he was identified as Merah. His neighbourhood has struggled to shake off the stigma of being associated with him.
"We're going through the same thing as three months ago," Maria Gonzalez, a mother with two children who could not go home because of the police cordon, said. "We used to be worry-free in the neighbourhood, but since the Mohamed Merah problem, we're worried. It's happening again, it's starting to scare me," she said.
Merhah, 23, who claimed to be acting for al-Qaida, filmed himself carrying out his attacks and reportedly confessed to police before he was shot dead.
The 26-year-old, who had taken four bank employees hostage in the morning in the same area where serial killer Mohamed Merah lived and was shot dead by police in March, was wounded in the stomach following the assault, police sources said.
The two other hostages, both women, had been released earlier, and no police officers were injured in the operation, which took place at 4:45pm local time.
Nearly seven hours earlier the man had entered the CIC bank, demanded money then fired a shot and taken the bank manager and other staff hostage, saying he wanted to negotiate with the elite RAID police unit that killed Merah.
Before the police went in local prosecutor Michel Valet said the gunman "wishes to make it known that this is not at all about money and that his motives are based on religious convictions."
"We don't yet know if this is a robbery that went wrong or if (the hostage taking) is a premeditated act," a police source had said earlier.
The man called himself "Boumaza" and had a criminal record, police said. Another source said he was schizophrenic and "may have stopped his treatment."
He was "put in a foster home when he was little and suffers from rage and fears the outside world," his sister said.
She said he was not very religious, adding, "we went to nightclubs and drank alcohol."
He entered the bank at around 10:00am and insistently asked for money but staff did not take him seriously, police said. He then produced a gun and took everyone hostage.
Parents of pupils at a nearby school were sent a text message telling them to pick up their children, witnesses said, and rapid-intervention GIPN police units were dispatched from Bordeaux and Marseille.
Killing spree
The RAID unit that shot Merah after he went on a killing spree is based in Paris, hundreds of kilometers to the north.
The CIC bank and Merah's former flat are within 500 meters of each other in Toulouse's Cote Pavee neighbourhood, east of the city center. Merah was killed at the end of a 32-hour siege of his flat after he shot dead seven people - three soldiers, and three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse - that shocked the country.
Toulouse, a city of around 500,000 people, lived in fear while police hunted the killer before he was identified as Merah. His neighbourhood has struggled to shake off the stigma of being associated with him.
"We're going through the same thing as three months ago," Maria Gonzalez, a mother with two children who could not go home because of the police cordon, said. "We used to be worry-free in the neighbourhood, but since the Mohamed Merah problem, we're worried. It's happening again, it's starting to scare me," she said.
Merhah, 23, who claimed to be acting for al-Qaida, filmed himself carrying out his attacks and reportedly confessed to police before he was shot dead.
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