One teenager held hostage for four women near the French city of Toulouse for hours. He was overwhelmed late Tuesday evening by elite unit RAID forces. All the hostages had been released unhurt a few hours earlier. The gunman then entrenched himself in a cigarette and Lottoladen in Blagnac and was finally arrested, as Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced.
The motive of the act is so far unclear. The investigators do not assume a terrorist background. The "almost 18-year-old" perpetrator is known to the police - for example, for violence against the police and theft, said prosecutor Dominique Alzeari.
The youth was after his arrest in "good health," said the head of the elite unit RAID, Jean-Baptiste Dunion. "I do not think he wanted to do something irreparable," said Blagnac Mayor Joseph Carles.
Alarm in the afternoon
The hostage-taking had started around 4.30pm. The area around the cigarette shop was cordoned off, and special forces were deployed. The police called on citizens to avoid the area in Blagnac.
The French news broadcaster BFMTV reported that at the beginning of the hostage-taking, the man called the police himself and demanded that he talk to an elite unit mediator RAID. At around 8 pm the first hostage was freed from the power of the man, shortly afterwards the three other women were released.
According to the regional newspaper "La Depêche du Midi", the hostages were the head of the cigarette shop, their daughter and two employees. At around 7 pm the hostage-taker allowed all hostages to call a relative. There were then intensive negotiations with RAID.