French soldier shoots 17 in hostage-taking exercise

afp/google ^ | 6-30-08 | afp

[WOBBLY BOB]

CARCASSONNE, France (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy promised swift and severe punishment Monday after a soldier shot and wounded 17 people, including a three-year-old boy and both his parents, at an open day at an army barracks.

The sergeant opened up with an assault rifle, firing live rounds instead of blanks into a crowd of hundreds of visitors watching a hostage-taking exercise Sunday at the base near the southwestern city of Carcassonne.

A man who witnessed the shooting told AFP that "suddenly, people were falling, we thought it was part of the exercise, and then we saw blood."

[PghBaldy]

There was just a shooting recently with the so-called suicide. What is going on with the people around Sarkozy?

[Travis McGee]

I’m still betting on Jacques Muhamed.

[SF Republican]

I take no personal offense. Its just on this website, death is often made light of and it is disappointing that so many here when death is involved, feel like we should lighten up.
If you think its funny, have fun.

[WoofDog123]

Thank you for that breath of reason. It seems many posters bashing france don’t know much about the first world war, particularly that the western front was effectively a meat-grinding stalemate for nearly 4 years.