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Subscribe to RSSSchools throughout France held a moment of silence in memory of the four killed in the Toulouse school shooting. Meanwhile, French police have launched a massive manhunt for the killer. ITN's Martin Geissler reports.
TOULOUSE, France -- A prosecutor said that all seven victims of a recent spate of shootings in southwest France -- three soldiers and four at a Jewish school -- were killed with bullets to the head, shot at such close range that the gunfire burned the skin.
All three attacks were carried out by a man on a powerful motorcycle who was wearing a helmet and carrying a Colt 45, Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters in Paris. But he said other clues to the killer's identify were scarce.
"We are confronted with an individual extremely determined in his actions, an armed individual who acts always with the same modus operandi," Molins said, "in cold blood ... with premeditated actions."
Molins also noted that the attacks had occurred every four days, but said he could not address security arrangements that might be inplace Friday -- the fourth day after the attack on the Jewish school.
The prosecutor also downplayed an earlier report by Interior Minister Claude Gueant that the shooter had a camera around his neck and could have been filming the attack, saying it was still only a hypothesis.
Earlier, Gueant had said the attacker was "wearing around his neck an apparatus" that could be used to film and post video online. He said that gave investigators new clues to the killer's "profile," though he admitted that they don't appear to close to an arrest.
Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images
People cry and react before the funeral convoy carrying the coffins leaves the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school after a funeral ceremony, Tuesday.
'Very cold'
Gueant described the suspect as "someone very cold, very determined, very much a master of his movements, and by consequence, very cruel."
Asked whether the gunman recorded the scene Monday morning, Gueant responded, "We can imagine that." But he added that authorities have not yet found any images of the killings online.
Meanwhile, hundreds of police combed southern France for the killer -- also suspected of shooting dead three French soldiers -- and NBC News reported that local police were to be issued with guns temporarily. Normally only national police carry weapons.
French schools held a minute's silence at 11 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) to remember the victims. Every school in the Toulouse region was also under guard Tuesday.
BBC News also reported that France had declared its top "scarlet" terror alert level for the first time.
Miriam, 8, chased down, killed
The victims at the Ozar Hatorah school were 30-year old Hebrew teacher Jonathan Sandler, his two children, Arye, 6, and Gabriel, 3; and Miriam Monsonego, 8, the daughter of the school principal, Toulouse prosecutor Michel Valet said.
The gunman chased Miriam into the concrete courtyard, stopping her by her hair, The New York Times reported. His gun jammed, but still holding her, he switched weapons and shot her in the head.
President Nicolas Sarkozy said the killings at the school and those of the soldiers, one of Caribbean and two of Muslim origin, appeared to be motivated by racism.
"In attacking Jewish teachers and children, there seems to be an obvious anti-Semitic motivation," he said late on Monday. "With the soldiers ... one can imagine that the bloodthirsty madness was linked to racism."
Manhunt for 'most wanted man in France'
Sarkozy was to meet with members of France's Jewish and Muslim community. France has the largest population of Jews and Muslims in western Europe.
Police had not named a suspect but said they were searching the city of around one million for a man they believed could be a trained marksman.
Neo-Nazi ex-soldier
Police were looking into the possibility that the gunman could be one of three soldiers dismissed from the army in 2008 for neo-Nazi activities, French magazine Le Point reported.
NBC News reported that the black scooter used by the gunman at the school had been traced to a theft on March 6 and that video surveillance cameras at the school had picked up the license plate number.
Hadrei Haredim via Getty Images
Jonathan Sandler, (second from left) his two children, Arye, 6, (left) and Gabriel, 3, (second from right) are pictured in this undated handout image. All three were killed in Monday's shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France.
It was the most deadly anti-Semitic attack on French soil in nearly 30 years. In August, 1982, six people were killed in a combined grenade and gun attack at the Goldenberg restaurant in Paris' Marais Jewish district.
As night fell Monday, students of the Ozar Hatorah Hebrew school gathered with the bodies of the victims for an all-night vigil.
Windows were shuttered at the school, a five-floor brick building in a leafy residential neighborhood. The wall near the front gate bore bullet marks, and one window was shattered.
The Associated Press, NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.
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a monster is on the loose in France? You should be! He will only get bolder until shot down like the rabid dog that he is and there will be bed wetting admirers who commit copycat crimes to achieve the publicity that this creature has generated. There is no capital punishment in France so my plea to officials is to NOT capture him, not let him surrender, give him no voice . . . kill him on sight, with the same merciless, pitiless efficiency that he used to murder innocent, defenseless children.
Targeting children is absolutely the lowest form of humanity; Nothing ever justifies it.
The innocent do not have anything to do with politics, rights or wrongs.
There are a couple of really upsetting things here.
First, obviously the article, 4 people, 4 human beings were killed. 3 children, 1 murder was an execution. This is the lowest of humanity but it is part of our collective humanity.
Second, most of these comments here are in an uproar over gun control and religion. That has nothing to do with the sympathy we should all be showing toward the families and the memory of these people. Does it really matter if you are pro or anti gun? Should it matter what God you pray to? We all should horrified by this and that too is a part of our collective humanity.
I can't believe this sick bastard could get back on his scooter/motorcycle and just take off without looking conspicuous. Hopefully they'll catch him before he does this again. So many sick crazies in our world!
All they need to do to find the killer is search the nearest Mosque or Islamic neighborhood. Muslims film all their executions for the media attention and posting to web sites.
Don't let the facts get in the way of a good bigoted rant!
Darrell...assuming the French are right, it is kind of unlikely that the neo-Nazi would be a Muslim.
Not bigoted, just factful and the French do not know for sure, however, the attack and the filiming of it, fits the methods of Islamic attacks across the world. What's the matter, the truth hurt?
Isn't it interesting now, they're focusing on a MUSLIM terrorist, who supports ISLAMIC terrorism and terrorist groups. Gee I wonder how that comes into bigotry "wants to know"? You just keep thinking with your head in the sand and Buffaloes Roam, read a little history before you assume the French are correct in their thinking. These kinds of attacks are carbon copies of each other all over carried out by Muslims. Attack, kill, film for the internet. It was a pure and simple statement of fact. It is also a pure and simple statement of fact that ISLAM is the enemy and should be stepped on like the insects they are.
So now we know it was a Mulsim who committed these crimes, can I say, TOLD YOU SO!!!
#91.5 - Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:30 AM EST
Sure Darrell get it off your chest SAY it :-)
Thanks Eagle, I needed that! Two a-holes who jumped into playing bigotry and affirming that the French said it was a Neo Nazi. Muslims have been murdering and filming their actions for year, cutting people's heads off, IED's going off and killing troops. It is their modus operandi.
I hope they catch this coward and film his public execution. I can't imagine this evil.
Heartbreaking and astonishing...
A grown man chasing a little girl, grabbing her by her hair and shooting her in the head. I just cannot wrap my brain around that.
What a coward. A poor excuse for a human being. I can't imagine that he has one redeeming quality unless he has the good grace to shoot himself in the head as well.
I agree. I was an infantryman, and I get a sick feeling from thinking about the people that died because I fought. Killing this guy, on the other hand, would be a pleasure. I think it would be hard to buy my own beer in any bar for weeks afterward.
Now hopefully they'll permanently arm their local police
What a Disgusting Coward! God Bless the people whose lives were cut short by this evil person. I pray that the people who consider racism and or hatred in any form will look at what their thoughts and ideas bring to fruition. An over abundance of love to the entire world (body) as a whole is the only answer to this type of evil.
Terrible thing for those people and their families. The perp should be strung up by his toenails, have honey poured on him and doused with fire ants. But how is this worthy of international news? Every time someone gets shot worldwide it makes the headlines everywhere. This kind of stuff has happened continuously as long as there have been people. What is the point of telling people in Pendleton, South Carolina about an isolated incident in France? Is it just to perpetuate the hard feelings one race or ethnic group has for another? Maybe they were not killed for being Jews. Maybe it was someone with a grudge against the school. Who knows, maybe the shooter was also a Jew.
This makes me sick the families of the children and soldiers have my deepest sympathies. My god the fear that little girl must of felt as the gun jammed and then was subsequently shot with another firearm from the perpetrator brings me to tears. I am against torture but if they catch this monster I will make an exception.
I really feel for this family. I'm very saddened by this hate crime.
Cowardly acts against innocent people is disturbing and does not further anyone's cause, it shows people how crazy hate groups are. This person is obviously trying to start a conflict between people, but this person is obviously blinded by hate because the intelligent ones know the pattern and understand the sociopathy.
"someone very cold, very determined, very much a master of his movements, and by consequence, very cruel." You forgot to add cowardly.
Killing of anyone is an injustice, it does not matter what nationality or religion they are! Mr. Sandler's wife in this picture, looks very attractive and the family as well. Whether it is about nationality, religion or some freak "YouTuber" who wants to exploit the killing of people, it is wrong and will always be wrong! The only justice here, would be to find him, sit him in a room with a gun pointed at his head with a trigger on a timer, then make him sweat for hours, not knowing when the shot will come, then film it for all his friends, associates and family to see, to show society does not tolerate intolerance! Why? We live in a society that has politicians, lawyers and bleeding hearts, the only true justice is bibical justice, if you take a life, automatically your life should be taken, end of story.
It's apparent that Iran is behind this, and that brings up the real question....what's Israel going to do about it?. The inept obama admin. is worried about the up comming elections, and doesn't want to anger their voter base, so you're on your own Israel.
Does your mommy know you're using the computer? Aren't you supposed to be in school?
Well I'm with your mommy now as you're in school.
Tee-hee-hee.
Being that's the best response to my post you can come up with, all I can say is THE TRUTH HURTS. To bad for you, and when the inept clown gets voted out this Nov. your hand-out days will be over..... Meaning you'll have to get a job!!!!.
he-he--you make yourself look more foolish with every misspelled word and mangling of the English language. You'd love to be as self-sufficient as I am. Come on, post some more stupid stuff!
You forgot the coma between ''word'' and ''and''. What kind of company do you own?.
7.62,,,, What is this crap with Obama & the communist flag? He's not a communist
You been listening to the John Birch Society again?
This happened in France & police suspect Neo-Nazi's..... It's got nothing to do with Israel or Iran
If you love Israel that much 7.62, move there, you show nothing but dishonor & disdain for America!
Are you sure about that?. Concidering he wasn't forced to sign the NDAA this last Dec. what else could he be?.
What makes you think I like Israel?, I usually get kicked off the vine for my comments about Israel, so I had to tone it down a bit :).
NDAA? You are stuck on dishonorable old debunked right wing rhetoric 7.62
This President fully defends & supports Americans freedoms with NDAA
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/31/statement-president-hr-1540
By the way dude,,, It was you who brought up Israel trying to blame it on Iran --- You have NO HONOR
Let's see if it wasn't for Israel we wouldn't be having issues with Iran now. Wasn't it the Iranians that were caught in Thailand a few weeks back...hmmm something about bombs. What evidence does France have that it may have been neo-natzi's. obama going against the constitution isn't supporting the USA no matter how you try to spin it. You really dishonor the USA by supporting the NDAA. All americans should have the chance to at least try to prove their innocense, or admitt their guilt in a court of law prior to being executed, or locked up forever with no charges, and no legal rep..
And that comma you insist belongs between "word" and "and" is made superfluous by the use of the word "of" in "...mangling of the English language.".
So THERE ya big meany!
However...though it is a racially motivated comment made solely to Obama-bash, there WOULD be a sort of absolute sick poetic irony to it. A nation framing a president who insists the Holocaust never happened using a neo-Nazi to kill members of the Jewish community to raise the ire or the Muslims.
That's not only sick, but far too brilliant to come from the "president" of this annihilation bent micro-power.
@ Mr. Chase... Actually there should be a coma there as there were two different thoughts. The first is the thought of misspelling, and the second is the thought of mangeling. Concidering the riots France had recently I can't blame them for wanting to pin this rap on the neo natzi's, however; what evidence do they have to support the claim? The natzi's hated the French, English....well everyone outside of their so called master race.
Anybody who tries to get their point across with violence is admitting their position is too ridiculous/stupid for words to work.
(by which I'm specifically referring to random hate crimes. There are always esoteric situations where violence is the only option, such as self-defense.)
Just horribly tragic. Hopefully they catch the guys soon.. If they catch him dead, that would be even better.
Ok so we have a suspect using a stolen vehicle has attacked 3 targets (and escaped) and by witness accounts “seems to be a man in control of his motions” and now they think he may have filmed the attack? I really have a sinking feeling now as this implies (to me) that this guy (guys maybe?) has/have really only just begun what he/they are up to, I hope it doesn’t come to it but I’m sensing the potential for dark days ahead in France
No death penalty in France. So how did these people die?
No capital punishment in France? Fine. Let the Israelis have him.
It's really pathetic to read some of these comments trashing other countries...do you not know that here in America you can shoot an innocent 17 yr old and not get arrested? Stop the ignorant rantings of how great our system is compared to other countries when we surely have great flaws here as well! My goodness, so many willing to share their stupidity with others!
When they catch him I hope they keep him alive for years, and torture him every day, every hour, every minute, every second, around the clock. Little to no food or water. Just enough to stay alive to endure the pain.
Cops without guns are just people in silly costumes.
Actually in many parts of the world, officers manage to do their jobs just fine without guns; or, without guns most of the time, arming themselves only when circumstances merit it, as was done here.
Whats the worst thing that could happen? cop get hit in the eye with a white flag?
The murderer was probably someone from Florida. You're allowed to murder people there as long as there are no witnesses.
But, I'm sure the NRA is happy. If those little kids would have been armed with Uzis they would have been able to defend themselves.
Prayers for the people who lost their lives. Hope justice is served to this cold blooded killer