The French magazine Le Point reports that police are investigating the possibility that three soldiers, who had been forced out of the French army because of their neo-Nazi beliefs, committed the shocking murders of Arab French soldiers and Jewish French school children. Their description matches an eyewitness report of a facial tattoo.
Late Monday night Le Point reported that investigators of the killings in the towns of Toulouse and Montauban believe the two cases—the Thursday murder of paratroopers in Montauban and the attack on the Jewish school in Toulouse that killed four people including three children, are indeed related.
The same scooter, a Yamaha T-Max, was used by the shooter in both cases. Its license plate was recorded on video surveillance tapes from the town of Montauban. The same .45 caliber gun was also used on both days.
The three soldiers were reportedly discharged in 2008 for neo-Nazi links, after pictures of them were published in satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaîné performing a Nazi salute. They were members of Montauban’s 17th parachute regiment, the same as the soldiers killed on Thursday.
Colonel Michel Esparsa, commanding officer of the 17th parachute regiment, had filed a complaint against the three soldiers who “admitted the facts” and should be “severely punished.” The profiles of these sinister characters correspond to the meager reports available to investigators to identify the crazy killer from Toulouse, including arm and facial tattoos. The complaint filed against the three in 2008 said the soldiers “have particularly explicit tattoos.”
A witness in Toulouse said the gunman had a facial tattoo.