Armed Man Storms Retirement Home for Catholic Monks in France Woman found dead; facility’s residents evacuated By Noemie Bisserbe and Nick Kostov
http://www.wsj.com/articles/armed-man-storms-retirement-home-for-catholic-monks-in-france-1480031914
PARIS—Police searched for a masked gunman suspected of stabbing a woman to death in a retirement home for Catholic missionaries in southern France, authorities said.
A suspect has been identified but his motive remains unclear, authorities said. Police doubt the assailant had any terror links, one official said.
Prosecutor Christophe Barret told reporters that a woman who works at the retirement home called police Thursday night to say she had been attacked.
No one else at the residence was harmed, the prosecutor said in televised remarks.
Security forces searched the facility—which houses dozens of retired Roman Catholic monks in the town of Montferrier-sur-Lez—but didn’t find the assailant.
Dozens of police and emergency vehicles lined the roads near the retirement home overnight, while a police helicopter circled overhead. Roadblocks were set up to check vehicles passing through the area.
A spokeswoman for the regional prefecture said all of the monks residing in the home have been evacuated.
Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, spokesman for the French Catholic bishops’ conference, responded on Twitter with condolences for the woman. “Our prayers reach out also to the missionaries attacked in their retirement home in the Herault (region). God give them all peace,” he tweeted.
France is on edge after a string of terror attacks that have ripped through the country in recent years, killing hundreds.
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