Jewish school gunman filmed his carnage – French minister

PanARMENIAN.Net - The gunman who shot dead three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school was a cold, cruel killer who filmed his carnage, France's interior minister said, as the country prepared to hold a silent tribute to the victims on Tuesday, March 20, Reuters reported.

Claude Gueant told reporters video surveillance tapes at the school in Toulouse showed the gunman was recording his shooting spree with a small video camera attached to his neck.

"This adds another element to the profile of the killer. It is someone who is cruel enough to record it," Gueant said at a primary school in the southwestern city. This shows a profile of the murderer as someone who is very cold, very determined, with precise gestures, and therefore very cruel," Gueant added.

The school attack, and the killing of three soldiers last week, has stunned France and prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leading candidates to suspend campaigning for next month's presidential election.

More than 200 police officers have joined the hunt for the gunman, who is the prime suspect in the killing of three paratroopers in two separate shootings last week in Toulouse and the nearby town of Montauban, to the north. Gueant said police were pursuing several leads into the attacks, which shared a number features. In each attack, the gunman arrived on a stolen scooter and used a Colt 45 handgun.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said on Monday the school killings appeared to be motivated by racism, was due to attend a one minute silent vigil at 1100 a.m. (1000 GMT) in a Paris secondary school. Schools in all of France will observe a minute of silence.

The bodies of three of the victims, who had dual French and Israeli nationality, were expected to be sent to Israel but no details were available about the timing.