A man armed with a shotgun shot and seriously wounded an assistant photographer in the entrance hall of French daily Liberation on November 18. The man then crossed the city to the suburb of La Défense where he shot at the headquarters of a French bank, Société Générale. From there, he carjacked a vehicle and forced the owner to drive him back into the city. The shooter got out of the car on the Champs Elysées where, despite a manhunt, the police lost track of him, reports Libération.
The man, who was operating alone according to the police, was still at large on November 19. He is also suspected of threatening a senior editor with a shotgun at the headquarters of French television channel BFMTV on November 15.
In a leader article entitled "We will carry on", the publisher of Libération says that —
Firing shots in a newspaper office is a threat to the men and women who are only doing their jobs. It is also a threat to an idea, to a set of values that, in this country, is called the Republic. These are not grand words, but, unfortunately, in the France of 2013, stating the obvious has become necessary.
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