Four slain at Jewish school
Three victims were children, gunman flees on motorbike
TOULOUSE, France – A gunman on a motorbike opened fire Monday at a Jewish school, killing a rabbi and his two young sons as they waited for a bus, then chased down a 7-year-old girl, shooting her dead at point-blank range. It was the latest in a series of attacks on minorities that have raised fears of a racist killer on the loose.
Authorities said the same weapon, a powerful .45-caliber handgun, was used in two other recent shootings in southwestern France, also involving an assailant who fled by motorbike. Those attacks left three people dead – military paratroopers of North African and Caribbean origin.
The shootings echoed across a nation that has been focused on an upcoming presidential race in which issues about religious minorities and race have gained prominence. President Nicolas Sarkozy – facing a hard re-election battle – raised the terrorism alert level in the region to its highest level, while also noting a possible racist motive.
“This act is despicable, it cannot go unpunished,” Sarkozy said in a prime-time address to the nation. “Each time this man acts, he acts to kill, giving his victims no chance.”
Monday’s attack was as quick and methodical as it was terrifying.
At around 8 a.m., with more than 100 students and other worshippers inside a synagogue adjoining the Ozar Hatorah school, the gunman coolly got off his motor scooter. He opened fire at 30-year-old Jonathan Sandler, a rabbi who taught at the school, and his sons, 4-year-old Gabriel and 5-year-old Arieh, while they waited for a bus to a Jewish primary school across town.
As the shots rang out, panicked students darted inside the school grounds and the attacker chased them, witnesses said. At one point, he grabbed the principal’s 7-year-old daughter, Miriam Monsonego, by her hair, shot her in the head and fled.
Nicole Yardeni, a local Jewish official who saw security video of the attack, described the shooter as “determined, athletic and well-toned.” She said he wore a helmet with the visor down.
Toulouse Prosecutor Michel Valet said a 17-year-old boy was also seriously wounded.
A police official said the same handgun used in Monday’s attack was used in the paratrooper shootings in Montauban and Toulouse.