Authorities pursue a lone gunman in the vicinity of Toulouse
A gunman opened fire in front of a Jewish school Monday morning in Southern France, killing four people and injuring another five. Around 8 a.m. on Monday morning, a man approached parents and students gathered in front of the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in the residential area of Roseraie in the city of Toulouse, and opened fire at the group using two guns. After reportedly chasing some students, the killer fled on scooter. A 30-year-old father and his two children were killed, as well as another student aged 8 or 10 years old. A 17-year-old student was seriously injured.
Monday’s attack comes after two other separate shootings last week in Toulouse and in nearby Montauban, when a man on a motorbike killed three French paratroopers and gravely injured a fourth one, prompting French authorities to set up a hunt for the killer during the weekend and French prosecutors in charge of terrorism investigations to open inquiries into the cases.
While there are similarities among the three incidents, French president Nicholas Sarkozy said investigators will still determine if there’s a common link among the shootings. Sarkozy interrupted his electoral campaign to go to Toulouse, as did his main opponent, Socialist François Hollande.