A 44-year-old father of three armed with a shotgun...

A 44-year-old father of three armed with a shotgun went on a shooting spree in downtown Tours, killing four people and wounding at least 12 others, police said.
The man, identified as French National Railway Company (SNFC) employee Jean-Pierre Roux-Durrafourt, was described by authorities as "deranged" after he shot people in downtown Tours during the mid-morning assault. He was wounded in a shoot-out with police and arrested. He later said he had no recollection of the incident.
Dismayed by the violence, French President Jacques Chirac said he shared the "feeling of horror and shock" of the people of Tours. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, speaking in Rennes, called the shooting "the act of a homicidal maniac" and cautioned against lumping the incident with concerns over security that have grown since the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States.
But Charles Pasqua, president of the conservative Rally for France party, said the incident shows France needs to restore the death penalty to get serious crime under control.
"France has seen over the past few weeks a wave of unprecedented assassinations in broad daylight that have outraged the French," Pasqua said.