Three children and a rabbi were shot dead on Monday at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, MSNBC is reporting. The alleged shooter fled the Ozar Hatorah school on a black scooter after seriously injuring two other people in the city’s Jolimont district. Security is being tightened at all Jewish schools across France, and Paris prosecutors are opening anti-terrorism investigations into the shooting.
Michel Valet, a Toulouse prosecutor, said the gunman was shooting people with a heavy-calibre firearm and another weapon “outside the school, then pursued children into the school, before fleeing.” He added that the victims included a 30-year Hebrew teacher; his two children, aged three and six; and another child.
The school shootings come days after three soldiers were killed in two separate shootings. Those incidents occurred in the same area by a man who also escaped by scooter. That incident happened at a bank machine in Montauban, during which a masked gunman opened fire on three uniformed paratroopers, killing two.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled to Toulouse after the shooting. He said “this barbaric act cannot win…trust (the authorities) to find this killer.” He added that he’s struck by the similarities between both shootings, “even if we have to wait to have more elements from the police to confirm this hypothesis.”
Written by: Karen Benardello
