Manhunt underway after ‘ex-paratrooper’ butchers elderly carer at monks retirement home and cops identify suspect after his vehicle is found nearby with air rifle and military medals inside

COPS say they have identified the ‘probable killer’ after an elderly carer was butchered and over 50 monks taken hostage at a retirement home for missionaries in France.

Prosecutor Christophe Barret said a local man had been identified as the top suspect after last night’s shocking attack in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, north of Montpellier, in southern France.

Without releasing the man’s name or photo, Barret said he was “armed and extremely dangerous and everything is being done to try and find him”.

The prosecutor also said there was nothing to link the suspect with Islamist terrorism, as reports circulate that the attacker was a former paratrooper.

“We rapidly found his vehicle next to the establishment,” said Mr Barret, adding that an air rifle used for firing soft pellets was found inside, together with other evidence.

The announcement seems to fit with earlier reports that a vehicle containing a fake firearm and a bar of military medals was found in the vicinity of the home by police.

Barrett added that the suspect had a link with the retirement home, but did not reveal any more details about his profile.

More than 100 officers have today been combing the area around the home looking for the attacker.

Montferrier-sur-Lez is surrounded by thick forests, and police helicopters could be seen flying above them this morning.

Search parties including sniffer dogs were also searching the surrounding countryside.

The bloodbath unfolded at the Green Oaks care home soon after 9.30pm last night.

Shots were heard as the masked intruder – armed with a sawn-off shotgun and a knife – burst in and attacked members of an elderly religious community belonging to the Society of African Missions.

One elderly female warder is said to have "discreetly raised the alarm" before being bound and gagged.

Gendarmes arrived within minutes and were soon followed by a unit of the elite GIGN tactical support group.

They soon found the corpse of an elderly woman who had been tied up, gagged and then stabbed repeatedly with a knife.

Early fears that a man was also killed alongside her have not been confirmed.

"A supervisor inside the building raised the alarm very discreetly," said a local police source, who confirmed that the siege ended soon after midnight local time.

More than fifty monks were evacuated from the building after gendarmes searched all floors before giving the all clear.

The gunman was nowhere to be seen, and a manhunt is now in full swing.

The facility is home to around 70 men and women who have served as missionaries to Africa.

"An individual, who was masked and armed with a knife and a sawn-off shotgun came into the retirement home where 70 monks live," one source said, adding that the man's motivations were unknown.

Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret told AFP: "All occupants of the retirement home are safe and sound.

"For the time being, there is only one victim.

"For the moment there is no particular evidence about the motive for this crime."

Barret said there were no reports that any religious or political slogans were shouted out, or any other evidence of terrorist motivations.

The man was unknown to authorities.

Today the husband of the dead woman said “the home was unprotected” adding: “Anyone at all could go inside. There was no protection, no alarm, and no security guard.”

The husband – identified only as Georges– told RTL radio station that his wife worked night shifts as a care worker, from 8pm until 6.30am.

He said she was a woman of “extraordinary kindness” who “never had any kind of problem with anyone.”

“How can you hurt someone like that?” said George. “She is dead – and me, I’m left destroyed.”

Police are on the scene and have now freed all of the hostages

Speaking at a press conference, spokesman of the Archdiocese of Montpellier (Hérault) Wayne Bodkin said: "It's a shock, it is unclear why such a tragedy [has happened]. We have no idea of the intrusion pattern in this religious retreat house that welcomes former missionary in Africa.

"It is in the countryside, very quiet. Most of the residents are over 70 years old."

The nursing home was established in 1994.

France is currently under a state of emergency following a series of terrorist attacks by Islamist terrorists over the past two years.

One of the most recent was in July when an 84-year-old Catholic priest was murdered during morning mass at the parish church in Saint Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen.

The two attackers, who said they were from Islamic State, slit Father Jacques Hamel's throat before themselves being shot dead by police.