FRANCE – An elderly woman was killed after an armed man burst into a retirement home for monks near Montpellier in southern France.
Police say the woman had been stabbed, gagged and tied up outside the property. The man who broke into the Chenes Verts retirement home in Montferrier-sur-Lez was reportedly armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun. He fled the home and remains at large. Authorities said the suspect had no apparent terror links but is “very dangerous”. France has been on high alert in the wake of a series of terror attacks, including the murder of an elderly priest near Rouen in July. There are conflicting reports whether the victim was a resident or a warden at the home.
Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret said the suspect is believed to be someone with ties to the retirement home but the motivation for the attack is unknown.
A large number of security forces, firefighters and ambulance personnel attended the scene. More than 100 police officers went to the facility, which is home to about 70 men and women who have served as missionaries in Africa. Armed police conducted room-to-room searches of the building before officers led people to safety one by one. Some of the home’s residents are more than 90-year’s-old.
Earlier, it had been suggested a man had also died at the home, but this has not been confirmed.
Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, the secretary general of the French Bishops’ Conference, tweeted: “Our prayers tonight go to the woman who lost her life in this attack on a retirement home.”
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