Via Daily Mail:
A man and a woman are dead and more than 70 monks are being held hostage by a masked man with a knife and sawn-off shotgun in in Montpellier, France.
Local residents claim the armed man stormed a retirement home but they are unsure of his motives.
At least 70 monks reside in the home and police are at the scene in Southern France.
The gunman is still believed to be in the building which is surrounded by armed police.
‘An individual, who was masked and armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun came into the retirement home where 70 monks live,’ one source said, adding that the man’s motivations were unknown.
Update:
It’s a retirement home for missionaries to Africa. Missionaries in the eyes of an Islamic extremist would be a most wanted target. No word yet on the identity of the person.
Via Sky News:
A woman has died after an armed man burst into a retirement home for monks near Montpellier, according to reports.
The victim had contacted police before she was killed with a knife, according to Reuters.
The man who broke into the home is reportedly armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun.
He is holed up in the Maison de Petraite retirement home in Montferrier-sur-Lez, BMTV reports.
The facility is home to around 70 men and women who have served as missionaries in Africa.
Armed police are conducting room-to-room searches on the second and third floors of the building, Le Parisien reports.
Officers have taken 16 monks into safety, it added.
According to Le Figaro, police found the warden of the home bound and gagged.
There have been reports that a man has died, but this has not been confirmed.
Sky News notes the woman was the warden who was found bound and gagged who contacted that police before she was killed. Her throat was cut.
Police are now reporting they have gotten 59 to safety and are still searching the building.
Update:
All the residents are now safe, but the killer is apparently still on the run.
