The man held by police for killing eight municipal councillors in a Paris suburb yesterday has committed suicide in detention.
Richard Durn jumped from a fourth floor window this morning, police said. He had just told investigators his attack at the town hall in Nanterre had been planned for some weeks.
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Richard Durn
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Durn (33) gunned down the eight and wounded another 19 people in the worst mass killing in France in years.
Witnesses said yesterday that while he was being held down after the shooting he screamed "kill me, kill me" at police.
France Info radio reported he left a 13-page letter at his home in Nanterre in which he explained he intended to commit suicide but wished to create as big an impact as possible.
Durn's mother, who lived with him, said he was disgusted with his life and had twice tried to kill himself in the early 1990s.
Police said he was a sports shooting enthusiast who had a licence for the three guns he used in the shooting and no criminal record. He had worked on humanitarian missions in Kosovo and Bosnia.