Tuesday October 30, 2001

TOURS, France - A masked gunman opened fire in Tours, France yesterday, killing four people, injuring eight and sending terrified bystanders running for cover. Afterward, the suspect told officials he had no recollection of the incident.

The 44-year-old suspect, an unidentified train operator with no criminal record, was quickly apprehended by police after fleeing to an underground parking garage.

Authorities determined the alleged gunman acted alone after a 40-member SWAT team, guns at the ready, came up empty-handed after searching the garage for a possible accomplice, said Jean-Francois Houssin, a regional government spokesman.

The suspect was taken to the hospital for minor leg and chest injuries he received scuffling with police.

The alleged gunman told police after being captured he had no recollection of the incident, Police Superintendent Jacquy Zalokar told reporters.

While his motive remained unclear, Houssin said the suspect's personal problems may have triggered the attack.

Police were reviewing security camera tapes to try to get a better idea of what happened.

Witnesses to the morning attack said a man wearing a mask and a backpack got out of a vehicle brandishing a gun, then started firing. Frightened bystanders took cover where they could, with some dashing into nearby cafes.

A witness told France's LCI television that a man wearing a ski mask had fired on bystanders in the center of town, repeatedly stopping to reload his weapon.

"He was next to the mayor's office, he stopped, he looked at the people, he reloaded his gun and he started to fire on cars and on people walking by," said the witness, whose name was not given.

Three people were killed near the city's main post office, police said. Another person was killed near the train station. All the victims were men.

"He was getting ready to walk across a pedestrian crossing when a police car arrived. He started shooting at the police," a man identified as Jacquy Mandard told LCI television.

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, speaking in Rennes, called the shooting "the act of a homicidal maniac" and cautioned against lumping the incident with concerns over security that have grown since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

But Charles Pasqua, president of the conservative Rally for France party, said the incident shows France needs to restore the death penalty to get serious crime under control.

"France has seen over the past few weeks a wave of unprecedented murders in broad daylight that have outraged the French," Pasqua said.

Two police officers were among the eight injured in Tours, about 155 miles southwest of Paris in the heart of France's Loire Valley region, which is dotted with historic chateaus. Two other people sought psychological treatment.

"It was Monday morning and the city was rather calm," Jean-Patrick Gilles, a top aide to the Tours mayor, told Europe-1 radio. "A few witnesses said they had the impression he knew how to use a weapon."