A manhunt was underway in France on Tuesday after two jail officers had been killed and three others injured in an assault on a van that was carrying a convict who managed to flee amid the carnage. In a press release to reporters, French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti stated the convoy was transporting a prisoner from a courthouse to a jail within the northern metropolis of Rouen when it was attacked by assailants armed with “heavy weapons.”
In accordance with French information company AFP, the automobile was rammed by automobiles at a freeway toll, permitting the prisoner to flee.
“All means are getting used to seek out these criminals,” Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin stated in a press release. “On my directions, a number of hundred cops and gendarmes had been mobilized.”
REUTERS/BFM-TV
French President Emmanuel Macron stated in a message posted on social media that “all the pieces is being achieved to seek out the perpetrators of this crime in order that justice could be achieved within the identify of the French folks.”
“The nation stands alongside the households, the injured and their colleagues,” Macron added.
The prisoner was recognized by French media as convicted burglar Mohamed Amra, who goes by the nicknamed La Mouche, or “The Fly.”
The Related Press cited public prosecutor Laure Beccuau as saying the suspect can be being investigated for an alleged kidnapping and a separate murder case in Marseille.
Footage from the scene of the ambush confirmed a forensic tent arrange round a number of automobiles alongside a major police presence.
Beccuau stated the brazen assault on the jail convoy was being handled as seemingly organized crime, and {that a} homicide investigation was underway.
