'Ex paratrooper' armed with a knife and shotgun stabs female care worker to death before fleeing

[Vergennes]

RIP.

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'Ex paratrooper' armed with a knife and shotgun takes 70 monks hostage at a French retirement home and stabs a female care worker to death before fleeing police

• Care worker is found dead as around 70 monks held hostage in France
• The retirement village in Montferrier-sur-Lez was stormed by a gunman
• Armed police arrived within minutes after supervisor sent out alert
• Manhunt launched after the killer escaped police capture and is on the run
  
  
  
  
  
  This morning, a bar of military medals and a fake machine gun were found in an abandoned car close to the retirement home, pictured
  
  
  A man believed to be an ex-paratrooper is being hunted by police in France after he stormed a retirement home armed with a knife and shotgun and murdered a female care worker while taking 70 monks hostage.
  
  The bloodbath unfolded at the Green Oaks care home in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, north of Montpellier, soon after 9.30pm last night.
  
  Shots were heard as the unidentified intruder, who used to work at the care home, attacked members of staff and those belonging to an elderly religious community belonging to the Society of African Missions.
  
  
  
  
  
  A gendarme stands outside the care home. Investigators so far had no evidence to suggest the attack was terror-related at a time when France remains under a state of emergency

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  Police have put up roadblocks around the area to try and detain the killer on the run.
  
  This morning, a bar of military medals and a fake machine gun were found in an abandoned car close to the retirement home.
  
  The fake machine gun is of the kind used the practice of ‘Airsoft’ - a game in which replica military weapons are used.
  
  A source close to the case said: ‘The car was parked up around 150 meters from the home. It is clearly of huge significance to the investigation.’
  
  However, the prosecutor in the case has said there appears to be no link to 'Islamist terror'.
  
  
  
  
  A helicopter hovers above Montferrier-sur-Lez as the search for an armed man who murdered a a care worker at a missionary continues

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  Christophe Barret added that the suspect, who lived in the town, had a link with the retirement home without revealing any more details about his profile.
  
  He said the suspect, thought to be around 47, was armed and extremely dangerous and insisted that everything was being done to try and find him.
  
  Mr Barret explained: '‘We rapidly found his vehicle next to the establishment,’ adding an air rifle used for firing soft pellets was found inside, together with other evidence.
  
  One warden is said to have ‘discreetly raised the alarm,’ before being bound and gagged by the man, who was armed with a sawn off shotgun and a knife, but was unharmed. All of the monks were too unharmed and later released.
  
  The murdered victim, is said to be a 54-year-old female care worker, who was tied up, and then stabbed three times.
  
  Early fears that a man was also killed alongside her have not been confirmed.
  
  And now the husband of the dead woman warned that the care home was completely unguarded.
  
  The man, only identified as Georges, told RTL radio station that his wife worked night shifts as a care worker, from 8pm to 6.30am.
  
  He explained: 'The home was unprotected. Anyone at all could go inside. There was no protection, no alarm and no security guard.'
  
  He added that his wife was a woman of 'extraordinary kindness' who 'never had any kind of problem with anyone.'
  
  He said: 'How can you hurt someone like that? She is dead, and me, I'm left destroyed.'
  
  Gendarmes arrived within minutes of the alarm being raised, and they were soon followed by a unit of the GIGN tactical support group.
  
  They soon found the corpse of an elderly woman who had been tied up and then stabbed repeatedly with a knife.
  
  ‘A supervisor inside the building raised the alarm very discreetly,’ said a local police source, who confirmed that the siege ended soon after midnight.
  
  
  
  

Monks, who have served as missionaries in Africa, reside in the home in Montferrier-sur-Lez, north of the city (pictured)

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  Some fifty monks were ‘evacuated’ from the building after gendarmes searched all floors, and then gave the all clear.
  
  The gunman, believed to be wearing a mask and dark clothing including a hoodie, was nowhere to be seen, however, and a manhunt started.
  
  'An individual, who was masked and armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun came into the retirement home where 70 monks live,' one source said, adding that the man's motivations were unknown.
  
  Montferrier-sur-Lez is surrounded by thick forests, and today police helicopters could be seen flying above them.
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ement-home-monks-near-Montpellier-France.html
  
  

 

[Shockwave]

there is no dearth of sick people in this world.