3 children, 1 adult killed in school shooting in France

French authorities appear to have a serial killer on their hands after officials reportedly determined the gun used to kill three children and a man outside a school on Monday was the same weapon used in two other shootings last week.

A man opened fire at the drop-off area at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France on Monday morning killing four people and seriously injuring a teen. The rampage prompted authorities to secure all schools and religious buildings in the country.

“This man alighted from his moped and as he was outside the school, he shot at everybody who was near him: children or adults. Children were chased right into the school,” Toulouse prosecutor Michel Valet said.

The attack happened just before 8 a.m. at the Ozar Hatorah school in the southwestern city. The gunman, armed with an .45-calibre handgun, took off on a motorcycle after the shooting. Police said a .35-calibre handgun was also used. At least 15 shots were fired. An anonymous police source told The Associated Press that investigators have concluded the same large-calibre weapon was used to kill three paratroopers in two separate incidents last week.

In Monday’s shooting, a  30-year-old rabbi and his two sons, ages four and five, were killed. A seven-year-old girl — the school principal’s daughter — also died. A 17-year-old boy was also seriously hurt.

French authorities initially beefed up security at Jewish schools across the nation, but Prime Minister Francois Fillon widened that precaution to all schools and religious buildings later Monday. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who went to Toulouse on Monday, called the rampage a “national tragedy.” The French presidential election campaign was suspended after the shooting.

Special services for the victims were planned for Monday night in Toulouse and a march to honour the victims was also set to happen in Paris Monday night.

Authorities have said they’ll investigate possible terrorist links to the school shooting and two other shootings involving a gunman on a motorcycle that happened in a week.

On Thursday a man on a motorbike shot three uniformed paratroopers at a bank machine in nearby Montauban. Two of them were killed and the third was critically wounded.

Last Sunday, another paratrooper in Toulouse was shot and killed by a man on a motorcycle.
The slain paratroopers were all of North African and Caribbean descent.

The gunman in each case appears to have acted alone.

Monday’s shocking violence reverberated around the globe. Danny Yatom, the former head of Isreal’s spy agency Mossad, said he believes  Monday’s shooting is part of a “wave of terror” directed at Jews and Israelis worldwide. He believes Iran or Hezbollah are behind the attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to help French police hunt down the killer and said an anti-Semitic motive can’t be ruled out.

Members of the Jewish community in the GTA expressed shock and sadness.

“Unfortunately, this cowardly and brazen attack on young children reminds us that the global Jewish community needs to remain vigilant at all times,” Ted Sokolsky, president & CEO of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto, said in a statement. “But an act such as this, targeting children, is particularly despicable. I’m hopeful that those behind this attack will be found quickly and brought to justice.”

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