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Gunman with a grudge kills four in French shooting spree
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
I thought a gun free society is supposed to be peacefull?
Gunman with a grudge kills four in French shooting spreeBy John Lichfield in Paris30 October 2001A deranged railwayman armed with a shotgun opened fire at random on the streets of a French city yesterday, killing four people and injuring 10 more. The man, a 44-year-old railway guard with a grudge against his employers, was wounded by police and captured after he took refuge in a multi-storey car-park.The centre of Tours, a quiet and picturesque city on the river Loire, was cleared by officers after the man stepped from a car and started shooting passers-by close to the town hall and railway station just before 10am.Terrified people huddled in caf?s, shops and offices as police exchanged shots with the gunman, who was wearing a brown leather jacket, jeans and balaclava, with a rucksack strapped on his back.A witness said: "He was next to the town hall, he stopped, he looked at the people, he reloaded his gun and he started to fire on cars and on people walking by."Three police officers were slightly injured in the running battle through the deserted streets before the man, by then also wounded, fled into the car park. A special police assault team surrounded the building but the man, Jean-Pierre Roux Durrafourt, surrendered after two hours without further violence, although he had warned officers he would throw a grenade. He was led away, his manacled hands covered in blood.The four murdered passers-by were men from Tours, aged between 33 and 66. All appeared to have been killed at random. None of the 10 wounded was badly hurt.A witness, Emanuelle Cartier, said the gunman was screaming incoherently as he fired. "I was only 10 metres away when he started," she said. " I saw people lying on the ground, shot. I was very shocked." Ms Cartier managed to run to another street and take refuge with 30 other people, in the tourist office, where she worked.At first, police thought there were two gunmen and the car used by Durrafourt might be booby-trapped with explosives. But after extensive searches, the all-clear was finally given yesterday afternoon.Police who questioned Durrafourt in hospital said he could give no coherent explanation for the onslaught. They said he appeared to have a grudge against the state-owned railway company, the SNCF.The French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, was asked whether the incident should be regarded as a breach of the tight security imposed on French cities since the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States. He replied: "The person who opened fire does not appear to have any criminal record. It seems to be someone working in the public sector who went crazy. When someone, if this is the case, is seized by an act of murderous madness, that's not a matter of ordinary security. I don't think the two should be mixed up."One of the main French police unions called last night for new legislation to control fire-arms. The union said the shootings in Tours demonstrated the inadequacy of French gun laws and called for a national register of gun-owners. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/europe/story.jsp?story=102135
Gunman with a grudge kills four in French shooting spreeBy John Lichfield in Paris30 October 2001A deranged railwayman armed with a shotgun opened fire at random on the streets of a French city yesterday, killing four people and injuring 10 more. The man, a 44-year-old railway guard with a grudge against his employers, was wounded by police and captured after he took refuge in a multi-storey car-park.The centre of Tours, a quiet and picturesque city on the river Loire, was cleared by officers after the man stepped from a car and started shooting passers-by close to the town hall and railway station just before 10am.Terrified people huddled in caf?s, shops and offices as police exchanged shots with the gunman, who was wearing a brown leather jacket, jeans and balaclava, with a rucksack strapped on his back.A witness said: "He was next to the town hall, he stopped, he looked at the people, he reloaded his gun and he started to fire on cars and on people walking by."Three police officers were slightly injured in the running battle through the deserted streets before the man, by then also wounded, fled into the car park. A special police assault team surrounded the building but the man, Jean-Pierre Roux Durrafourt, surrendered after two hours without further violence, although he had warned officers he would throw a grenade. He was led away, his manacled hands covered in blood.The four murdered passers-by were men from Tours, aged between 33 and 66. All appeared to have been killed at random. None of the 10 wounded was badly hurt.A witness, Emanuelle Cartier, said the gunman was screaming incoherently as he fired. "I was only 10 metres away when he started," she said. " I saw people lying on the ground, shot. I was very shocked." Ms Cartier managed to run to another street and take refuge with 30 other people, in the tourist office, where she worked.At first, police thought there were two gunmen and the car used by Durrafourt might be booby-trapped with explosives. But after extensive searches, the all-clear was finally given yesterday afternoon.Police who questioned Durrafourt in hospital said he could give no coherent explanation for the onslaught. They said he appeared to have a grudge against the state-owned railway company, the SNCF.The French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, was asked whether the incident should be regarded as a breach of the tight security imposed on French cities since the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States. He replied: "The person who opened fire does not appear to have any criminal record. It seems to be someone working in the public sector who went crazy. When someone, if this is the case, is seized by an act of murderous madness, that's not a matter of ordinary security. I don't think the two should be mixed up."One of the main French police unions called last night for new legislation to control fire-arms. The union said the shootings in Tours demonstrated the inadequacy of French gun laws and called for a national register of gun-owners. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/europe/story.jsp?story=102135