Manhunt for Shooter Who Killed Rabbi, 3 Children

March 20, 2012 — -- As the manhunt continues for the gunman who killed four at a Jewish school in this southwestern French city, French authorities said they were treating it as the latest in a series of terror attacks and that the whole region remains on alert.

"Today we do not know who he is," said French Interior Minister Claude Gueant. "As long as he has not been arrested we are at the highest level of alert in the Midi-Pyrenees area."

Paris District Attorney Francois Molins, whose office handles France's terrorism cases, said at a press conference today that Monday's shootings were linked to two earlier attacks in which three French paratroopers died. Moulin said all three attacks involved shots to the head from close range with the same Colt .45 revolver, and that the shooter drove the same model of scooter in each attack.

"We are dealing with an individual who is extremely determined in his action, armed and acting with the same modus operandi in all three attacks," said Molins. He characterized the shootings, which began on March 11, as "coldblood[ed]... terrorist attacks," and said 200 investigators are looking at 7800 hours of surveillance footage for clues. He said he did not rule out the possibility of further attacks.

Responding to earlier reports that the shooter might have used a camera to film his exploits, Molins did not discount the possibility, but called it "nothing more than a hypothesis."

Earlier Monday, Gueant had said that a witness reporting seeing a small video camera around the gunman's neck. "I do not know whether he was filming everything but this hardware was seen, indeed," said Gueant.

Gueant also said that French police have no clear leads in the case. Since Monday's victims were Jewish and all the soldiers targeted were of North African or Caribbean background, authorities have been exploring possible Islamist or Neo-Nazi motives for the violence.

On Thursday, March 15, two soldiers were killed and a third wounded by a shooter on a scooter as they used an ATM in Montauban, about 30 miles away.

All three soldiers who died were of North African origin, while the wounded soldier was of Caribbean descent.

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