MASSACRE AT TOULOUSE

Ozar HaTorah: A Passion for Learning
2012 Ozar Hatorah shooting
The 2012 Ozar Hatorah Toulouse shooting occurred on 19 March 2012 at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school in Toulouse, a city located at around 600Kms southwest of Paris. At least four people were killed, including three children, when a gunman riding on a motorcycle opened fire on a drop-off point for students and staff. The shooting occurred at 8:00am when the shooter got off his scooter and opened fire. It is suspected that two weapons were used in the attack. It is suspected that the shooting is related to other shootings in the region. At least 15 shots were fired.
The Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse is part of a national chain of at least twenty Jewish schools throughout France, educating children of primarily Sephardic, Middle Eastern and North African descent.
The shooting comes a week after two other shooting attacks in the area against uniformed paratroopers in Toulouse and Montauban. Four paratroopers were killed, two of them Muslim, and all of them either North African or Caribbean in origin.
The victims were visiting school teacher Rabbi Yonatan Sandler and his sons Aryeh and Gavriel from the Kiryat HaYovel neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, and eight-year-old Miriam Monsonego, the daughter of Rabbi Yaakov Monsonego, the school principal. Three other children aged 6-8 were critically injured and are fighting for their lives in the local hospital.
The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, called the attack a 'national tragedy' and declared that 'hate cannot win', 'the Republic is much stronger'. Sarkozy called for a minute of silence in all schools the next day.
And he added, And of course our thoughts are with these families that are shattered -- a mother who has lost her husband and her two children the same day, the director of the school saw his little girl die before his eyes,
A man opened fire on people waiting at a school drop-off point and then fled, according to observers at the scene. A local French journalist told CNN that the attacker got close enough to shoot his victims in the head. Video surveillance cameras show a man in a helmet traveling on a black scooter. Some reports indicate the shooter may have had tattoos on his face. A witness said: "He shot at everything he had in front of him, children and adults," he said. "The children were chased inside the school."
The city of Toulouse is on “lockdown” according to France 24 news, with a team of 50-60 police officers and counter-terror specialists scouring the city for the shooter. French President Nicholas Sarkozy, Interior Minister Claude Guéant, and Education Minister Luc Chatel are expected to arrive in Toulouse shortly to monitor the situation. Jewish institutions throughout the country are being afforded additional security by law enforcement.
Chief Rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim, issued a statment, saying: ‘I am horrified by what happened outside a Jewish school in Toulouse today. It has bruised my body and my soul. I am deeply upset and am heading to Toulouse.’
A correspondent at the scene for BFM said that the Police see a connection between the three incidents, citing the same weapon – 9mm gun – and black scooter used in all three attacks.