PARIS MAY 17 2013
It happened just before noon, as children were leaving school premises for their lunch break.
He forced his way into the building and pushed aside two adults who tried to stop him, said Francois Weil, the city's top education official.
Police sources said the man had apparently been depressed after separating from his wife in 2009.
He had been a longtime resident of the neighbourhood and lived very close to the school, which is located near the Eiffel Tower.
Officers re-iterated that no link had been established between the man and the school.
"I heard a shot. I saw all the blood. I saw the man. I saw the man fall back when he shot himself. It was horrible," a schoolgirl told France's Europe 1 radio.
A boy who witnessed the incident said he thought "terrorists had come into the school with pistols".
French President Francois Hollande told a press conference he understood "the sadness of the nation sparked by this tragedy," adding: "Everything will be done to support these children."
A psychological support team has been sent to the school.
A 50-year-old man with a history of mental problems has killed himself with a sawn-off shotgun in front of a dozen children at a Paris school.
The man, who was not associated with La Rochefoucauld school, shot himself in front of a group of children aged six and seven.It happened just before noon, as children were leaving school premises for their lunch break.
He forced his way into the building and pushed aside two adults who tried to stop him, said Francois Weil, the city's top education official.
Police sources said the man had apparently been depressed after separating from his wife in 2009.
He had been a longtime resident of the neighbourhood and lived very close to the school, which is located near the Eiffel Tower.
Officers re-iterated that no link had been established between the man and the school.
"I heard a shot. I saw all the blood. I saw the man. I saw the man fall back when he shot himself. It was horrible," a schoolgirl told France's Europe 1 radio.
A boy who witnessed the incident said he thought "terrorists had come into the school with pistols".
French President Francois Hollande told a press conference he understood "the sadness of the nation sparked by this tragedy," adding: "Everything will be done to support these children."
A psychological support team has been sent to the school.