A train conductor with a history of mental illness went on the rampage with a shotgun in a French city today, killing four people before being captured.
Eight people, including policemen, were injured in the shootings in the centre of Tours - in the Loire, 150 miles south west of Paris.
The incident happened near the railway station just before 10 a.m. when the 44-year-old opened fire on a policeman then ran off, shooting at others in the street.
He then took aim at pedestrians, killing four men aged between 33 and 66, as he fled the scene, eventually taking refuge in an underground car park.
He was captured in the car park, after being shot by police, and taken to hospital. The man worked for the state railway SNCF and local officials said he may have had a grudge against the company.
Police sources said the man had been questioned in hospital, but his answers were incoherent. A witness told France's LCI television that a man wearing a ski mask had fired on passers-by, stopping to reload his weapon.
"We don't have any knowledge of a robbery," said Jean-Patrick Gilles, a top aide to the Tours mayor. "It was Monday morning and the city was rather calm."
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin called the shooting an "act of sheer madness."
He said the suspect taken into custody had no criminal record.
"We must think of the families of those caught up in this incident, be there for the injured and try to understand what has happened," Mr Jospin added.
Suspicions that an alleged accomplice may have fled into the car park turned out to be unfounded, police said.
But the premises were being searched for any explosives after the man warned he had booby trapped parked cars with grenades.
AP