EU condemns 'odious' Jewish school shooting in France

BRUSSELS - Agence France-Presse

A student, second from left, is flanked by an unidentified woman and police officers as they leave a Jewish school after a gunman opened fire in Toulouse, southwestern France, Monday, March 19, 2012. AP Photo

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso condemned the deadly shooting of four people, including three children, outside a Jewish school in France today as an "odious crime."

"In the name of the European Commission, I strongly condemn this odious crime and express the horror that this blind violence inspires. Nothing is more intolerable than the murder of innocent children," he said in a statement.
 
A gunman burst into a Jewish school in the southwestern city of Toulouse, killing three children and a teacher in the third deadly gun attack in a week by a man who made his escape on a motorbike.
 
The children, aged three, six and 10, and a 30-year-old religious education teacher were mowed down as they arrived for class at the Ozar Hatorah school, officials said.
 
"I want to present my most sincere condolences to the families of the victims. Our thoughts go to the wounded and to all the children of this college who lost several comrades," Barroso said.
 
The Belgian interior minister, Joelle Milquet, ordered police to be "particularly vigilant" around Jewish buildings in Belgium, notably schools, following the Toulouse shooting.
 
Belgian authorities have provided extra security around Jewish interests for many years due to past threats.
 
Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said separately that he learned about the shooting in France "with horror and indignation."