[Ammi]

A gunman on a motorbike has opened fire in a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, killing four people including three children.

Police said that one adult and three children, aged three, six and 10, were killed with an adult teacher.

The shooting reportedly occurred at around 8am local time as children waited at a drop-off point near to the Lyceé Ozar Hatorah, which has around 200 students. It is part of a network of 13 institutions which teaches more than 4,000 students across France.

Le Monde said that the dead included a rabbi who taught at the school and his two sons. The French newspaper said the man was a French-Israeli from Jerusalem.

Another rabbi, Rahamim Sabag, told Israeli reporters for Channel 2 that the other victim was the headmaster's daughter.

The city was said to be on "lockdown" as police hunted the killer, who has also been linked to two other recent attacks on soldiers in the region. Safety fences were put up in front of some schools, French media siad.

Toulouse prosecutor Michel Valet said: "He shot at everything he could see, children and adults. Some children were chased into the school."

One witness whose child attends the school described "a vision of horror" in the aftermath of the shooting.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012...6pLid%3D100853

[Marc]

Shocking, just sick how some people can do this

[Livia]

Shocking enough for the serious thread.

[Marc]

unfortunately

[Livia]

Sometimes I wonder how human beings have made it this far.

[MTVN]

Sounds like it was probably politically motivated if hes also attacked soldiers, too soon to speculate as to the specifics though..

[Livia]

He shot children. ******* his motives.

[MTVN]

Eh I'm only speculating, I'm not trying to defend him

[Livia]

No, I know that MTVN.

[Ammi]

I really can't get my head around why so often children are targetted

[Livia]

It's bad enough when this stuff happens to adults, but when it happens to kids it's just beyond the realms of comprehension.

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by Livia

No, I know that MTVN.

Oh right ok, just didn't want to be misunderstood

[Livia]

Originally Posted by MTVN

Oh right ok, just didn't want to be misunderstood

I would never think for one moment you would defend someone who kills children to make a point.

[Tom4784]

Disgusting, I hope he's caught swiftly and made to face the full wrath of the law. Child killers are beyond hope, redemption or mercy.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Livia

It's bad enough when this stuff happens to adults, but when it happens to kids it's just beyond the realms of comprehension.

Yes..because they're purposefully targetted..like Norway..not that I understand any killings..but with children it's particularly hard to understand

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by Livia

I would never think for one moment you would defend someone who kills children to make a point.

No I know, I worded myself badly, what I mean is that by speculating about the motive, I didnt mean to take anything away from how shocking a crime this is

[Ammi]

The French government said security was being tightened at all religious sites in France, particularly around Jewish schools..I hope there are no more incidents before they catch up with him

[Kazanne]

Cowardly tosser,targetting little kids,B-----D.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Livia

Sometimes I wonder how human beings have made it this far.

Its like Tribes

[MTVN]

What we know

Three gun attacks which left seven people dead and two wounded have sparked a security alert in south-western France, with fears that the same killer could be at work.

In each case the attacker is said to have been a gunman on a moped, using a weapon of the same calibre, striking in broad daylight.

All of the attacks took place within a radius of about 50km (30 miles), between the city of Toulouse and town of Montauban.

The first two shootings saw soldiers targeted but the third took place outside a school.

What the victims have in common is that they belong to, or are associated with, ethnic minorities - North African, Caribbean and Jewish.

That they were singled out is suggested by reports that, in at least one attack, the killer pushed aside a bystander to get to his victims.

A manhunt is under way and France has placed its national judicial police in charge of the investigation, with anti-terrorist investigators and specialists in serial crimes at its disposal.

While little has been reported about the identity or motivation of, in the words of Le Figaro newspaper, the "most wanted man in France", some of the strongest clues may have been left by the first attack.

Cyber trail

Investigators believe it is "highly plausible" that the same .45 calibre gun was used in the first two shootings, a judicial source told France's AFP news agency several days before the third.

On Sunday 11 March, Imad Ibn-Ziaten, a 30-year-old staff sergeant in the 1st Airborne Transportation Regiment, was shot dead around 16:00 (15:00 GMT) behind a school in a quiet district of Toulouse.

According to Le Figaro, Sgt Ibn-Ziaten, who was not in uniform, was unwittingly waiting for his own killer.

He had posted a small ad on a website to sell a Suzuki Bandit motorcycle, and the suspected gunman had arranged a meeting to see it.

The sergeant was found shot in the head, his motorcycle beside him.

French cyber police are working to extract clues from the two men's internet exchanges, Le Figaro says.

Sgt Ibn-Ziaten had a clean service record, prosecutors stressed, rejecting suggestions that there could have been some gangland element involved in his murder.

'Tattoo'

In the second attack, in Montauban on Thursday 15 March, 46 surveillance cameras picked up the gunman on his scooter, according to Le Figaro.

They showed "a man in dark clothing wearing a black helmet and riding a powerful moped".

11 March: Off-duty airborne sergeant shot dead in Toulouse while waiting to see man about selling his motorbike
15 March: Two paratroopers shot dead and a third seriously injured while waiting at a cash machine in Montauban
19 March: Three children and a teacher shot dead, and a youth injured, at a Jewish school in Toulouse

[Ammi]

Crikey..it sounds like something from a movie script doesn't it...it makes me worry that his 'plan' will continue and something else will happen in the next few days..I hope to god they get him soon

[Marc]

Originally Posted by Livia

Sometimes I wonder how human beings have made it this far.

Me too, it's a joke how human's can even do this

Originally Posted by Ammi

I really can't get my head around why so often children are targetted

Perhaps, if it is politically influenced, killing children will get more press coverage?/more attention?

To be honest, if you want to kill people whom you don't know then you're already screwed up, if it's a kid, or an adult, I'm sure that wouldn't matter to somebody who might be that screwed up.

[Roy Mars III]

Originally Posted by Marc

Perhaps, if it is politically influenced, killing children will get more press coverage?/more attention?

Yea. Children are viewed as innocent people. Killing them causes more conflict

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Marc

Me too, it's a joke how human's can even do this



Perhaps, if it is politically influenced, killing children will get more press coverage?/more attention?

To be honest, if you want to kill people whom you don't know then you're already screwed up, if it's a kid, or an adult, I'm sure that wouldn't matter to somebody who might be that screwed up.

Yes..I hadn't thought of that...sick

[Livia]

I'll tell you what gets on my tits... the media's rush to Hollywoodise a story like this. I just read that the gunman is described as a "burly lone wolf". Sounds like Steven Seagal on a mission, not a freakin' child murdering scumbag freak.