Massacre in a town hall

At least eight people are dead and many others critically injured after a crazed gunman today opened fire on a Paris town hall meeting with three pistols.

In what the French prime minister described as a moment of "raging madness" Richard Durn took careful aim at his victims after sitting through a meeting.

As council members rose at 1.15am, in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, he stood up in the public gallery and calmly opened fire with two Glock automatic handguns and a .357 magnum Smith & Wesson.

Four men and four women, all young councillors, were killed Among them were four communist councillors and a Green party member.

Durn, 33, said nothing throughout the bloodbath and witnesses said he coolly reloaded five times and fired at people trying to overpower him.

One man was seriously injured trying to tackle Durn as he reloaded. Survivors bravely grappled the gunman to the ground and held him until he was arrested.

One councillor shot in the arm said Durn looked "possessed" as he riddled the room with bullets. He said: "He stood up and at first no one took any notice. Then he pulled out a gun and everyone froze before diving for cover.

"His face looked calm and his eyes looked glazed over, like a zombie. It was a nightmare. There was blood and the bodies of the dead and injured everywhere."

State prosecutor Yves Bot said: "It's not clear why he did this, but it was a premeditated attack."

Although Durn was said to be attached to an ecological movement and had greeted Green Party official Christian Demercaster before the meeting, the party denied he was one of their members. "He was somebody opposed to the directives of the city hall," said M Demercaster.

According to one source Durn worked as an election official and was known to councillors. Before opening fire he talked to at least one member of the council.

Durn lives with his mother in Nanterre, a middle-class suburb, and had a permit for his guns, for recreational use.

There was pandemonium as dozens of police vehicles and more than 100 rescue officials surrounded the town hall. A helicopter took some of the injured to hospital. Eight of the 30 wounded are in very grave condition. Many others were treated for shock.

"This is murderous madness," said premier Lionel Jospin at the scene this morning. "These are inhuman acts. It is a horrifying tragedy that harms democracy - a city council meeting in action. Many officials reacted with great courage to overpower the lunatic."

President Jacques Chirac expressed his "very great emotion"-at the news. Nanterre mayor Jacqueline Fraysse-Casalis, who was presiding, said: "I ended the session. A man got up. He had been sitting in the public area.

"He shot straight in front of him, then he moved to where the council members were sitting. He said nothing. It lasted many minutes.

"I can't bear the sight of the bodies of my fellow councillors lying there. Many of them have families and young children."

Deputy mayor Lucien Batard said: "It lasted a long time. He replaced the cartridges and must have shot 40 or 50 rounds. After he was overpowered, he shouted 'kill me, kill me'."

Captain Laurent Vibert, of Paris fire brigade, said Durn was a Green activist who had behaved in a disturbed manner at previous meetings. He added: "This was like a scene of a terrorist attack. It was a battlefield."

A witness told France Info radio: "He started shooting with a gun under each arm. He was shooting at anything that moved." Samuel Rijik, a municipal official, said: "I thought it was a joke at first. Some people thought it was firecrackers.

"I crawled under my table and a bullet went through my jacket. I thought I was hit."

Weeping relatives of the victims arrived to identify the bodies, which remained in the council hall hours after the shooting.

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