Paris gun suspect jumps to death

Police officers tried, in vain, to hold Durn back before he jumped

NANTERRE, France (CNN) -- A man being held over the killing of eight people at a local council meeting in Paris has jumped to his death while in police custody, the prosecutor's office said.

Richard Durn, 33, scrambled through a fourth-floor window at the Quai des Orfevres, headquarters of the Paris Criminal Brigade on Thursday, despite his interrogators' efforts to hold him back by the legs, a police statement said.

"When he was asked to rise to consult a document on the desk of an interrogator, Durn suddenly rushed to a window, opened it and scrambled out onto the roof," the police statement said.

"The two interrogators tried to hold him back by the legs, but the determination of this fanatic, whose body was already mostly outside, meant all this effort was in vain."

Dern was being questioned there about France's worst mass killing in years before he was due to face a judge on Thursday afternoon.

Several city council members were killed in Wednesday's shooting attack at the end of a regular session of the city council in Nanterre, emergency officials said. Twenty others were wounded, at least 12 seriously.

RESOURCES Image gallery: Devastation at the scene of the shooting    CNN.com Europe More news  from our European edition

When he was finally restrained the gunman cried out: "Kill me, kill me!"

During a day of interrogation, Durn told police he often "thought about killing someone and killing himself afterwards," Reuters reported.

France 2 television said police found at Durn's home a 13-page letter in which he said he was ashamed of his failed life in Nanterre, and wanted police to kill him.

His 65-year-old mother, Stephanie, said her son began psychotherapy in 1990, asking the therapist to "Help me to die."

Dern had told police while in custody of his wish to kill himself

The justice and interior ministries have opened a joint inquiry into Durn's interrogation and suicide.

Witnesses to Wednesday's shooting said Durn, an unemployed local man, frequently attended council meetings at Nanterre, a middle-class neighbourhood near a business district of western Paris.

He was an a active member of the local political scene, believed to have ties to the left-wing Green Party. However, authorities are not sure if the shooting was politically motivated.

The suspect, who was of Yugoslav origin, had no criminal record and had a permit for his guns, which he had bought in 1997 and used for recreational shooting, prosecutors said. His permit came from a gun association.

The shooting rampage seemed set to become an issue in France's upcoming presidential election where crime had already risen to top the election agenda. (Full story)

Hours after the attack, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin visited the scene and praised city council members for their courage.

"Some members of the council were very brave, they tried to stop him but he kept shooting," Jospin told reporters.

French President Jacques Chirac called it an "act of total madness" after visiting the scene.

Consolation for victims near the scene of the shooting

The gunman used two automatic pistols and a revolver to calmly fire at about 40 people. CNN's Robin Oakley said one of the guns was a .357 magnum pistol. About 50 bullets were scattered on the floor of the meeting room after the attack at 1.15 am (0015 GMT) on Wednesday morning.

The attacker was eventually subdued by others in the room after one official threw a chair at him. That official was then seriously wounded when the suspect started firing again with his free hand. No police were present at the time of the shooting.

"We were about to leave when suddenly a man got up and started shooting straight ahead," Nanterre Mayor Jacqueline Frayasse told The Associated Press. (More eyewitness accounts)