French police are searching for a man suspected of stabbing an elderly woman to death late last night in a retirement home for Catholic missionaries.
The motive for the killing is yet unclear, but Christophe Barret, the Montpellier prosecutor, said it is not terrorism related.
The assailant was reportedly armed with a shotgun and a knife when he entered the Green Oaks retirement home in Montferrier-sur-Lez, near the southern city of Montpellier on Thursday evening.
A nurse raised the alarm after escaping from the home but when police arrived they found the body of the woman gagged and tied up outside the building.
Her husband – identified only as Georges – told RTL radio station that his wife worked night shifts as a care worker from 8pm until 6.30am.
He said she was a woman of “extraordinary kindness” who “never had any kind of problem with anyone”.
The suspect is believed to be someone who has links to the home but he has not been named. He is still at large despite the efforts of search teams with a helicopter.
France remains in a formal state of emergency since a wave of recent terrorist attacks, including the murder of Catholic priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, in his parish near Rouen.
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