French shooting suspect killed
March 22nd, 2012 - 7:51 pm ICT by IANSParis, March 22 (IANS) A man suspected of shooting dead seven people in southern France was killed by police Thursday, Xinhua reported.
Heavy gunfire was heard at the apartment building where 24-year-old suspect Mohamed Merah had been holed up for about 30 hours.
Three police officers were injured, one critically, in the exchange of fire.
Police had been trying to capture Merah alive.
Merah was allegedly responsible for the death of three French paratroopers and four Jewish people, including three children, in the past weeks.
On Wednesday, media reports said he had been arrested, prompting Interior Minister Claude Gueant to issue a clarification.
Merah had initially offered to give himself up to the police, but said later that he would “die with weapons in hand”.
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Tags: apartment building, clarification, fire police, heavy gunfire, interior minister, mohamed, paratroopers, paris march, police officers, southern france, weapons, xinhua