A dozen children in nursery section of La Rochefoucault school witness man in his 60s shoot himself in head

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

A man in his 60s has walked into the nursery section of a Paris school and shot himself dead with a sawn-off shotgun in front of a dozen children, police say.

The shooting happened just before midday on Thursday in the school hall as children were leaving for a lunch break.

The man, who shot himself in the head, was not connected with the private Catholic school but lived in the neighbourhood, French media reported. His name has not yet been released and police are working to establish a motive. He did not make any spoken or written statement before shooting himself.

La Rochefoucault school is in the seventh district on Paris's Left Bank, not far from the historic military complex at Les Invalides and surrounding government ministries.

A five-year-old boy told L'Express: "He fell to the ground, there was lots of blood, I thought it was a terrorist."

Fabienne, a woman who lived opposite the school, told Europe 1 radio she heard children screaming and saw them running shocked and shouting into the street. No children were hurt in the shooting.

The French education minister, Vincent Peillon, cut short a meeting in Brussels to travel to the school.

A psychological team was brought in to help pupils at the school which teaches from nursery to high school level.