The Toulouse gunman called a news channel two hours before the police surrounded his apartment building. I wonder if he gave away his location with that call. It lasted eleven minutes. Although, according to police, they had had this guy under some degree of surveillance for several years, and they had found a link between one of his earlier shootings and his mother’s I/P address. This part is weird and creepy:
Earlier on Tuesday, authorities had offered new details on the killings at the Jewish school, an assault that has stunned the nation and terrorized Toulouse. They said the gunman seemed to be filming his actions as he coolly shot his victims. Mr. Guéant said surveillance footage from the school’s security cameras showed what appeared to be a video camera strapped to his chest.
Asked why he targeted a Jewish school, he said, “The Jews kill our brothers and sisters in Palestine.” But, of course, his earlier targets had been blacks and Arabs in the French armed services.
He told [Ebba] Kalondo he had carried out the attacks in protest at France’s decision to ban women from wearing the full Islamic veil and because of the country’s military presence in Afghanistan.
He said “the victims were chosen at random” and that anyone “bolstering the operation in Afghanistan” or “working for the Sarkozy machine” was a target.
So, he’s pretty much pissed off about nine different things and decided to just start killing people at semi-random. Hopefully, he will follow through and surrender peacefully. But there’s still this to worry about:
Speaking to FRANCE 24’s senior editor Ebba Kalondo for 11 minutes in “clear French”, he said that his actions were part of a “much larger campaign” and that the country could expect further attacks in Lyon, Marseille and Paris.
Maybe that’s just bluster. In any case, I wonder if France will use this as an excuse to set up a global network of secret prisons where no legal due process applies?
