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10 hurt in French nursery school shooting

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-20 21:34

PARIS - A gunman armed with a BB gun shot at people Friday near a nursery school in the French city of Lyon, injuring 10 adults but no children, authorities said.

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Police surrounded the area, searching for the gunman and trying to find out where the shots originated.

The shooting 30 yards (meters) from the Harmony nursery school took place just as parents were collecting their children before the lunch break. Some parents, mainly mothers, were among the injured, said Raphaelle Padovani, a spokeswoman for the Lyon prefecture.

Anne Le Scanff, spokeswoman for the Lyon school district, said a man fired at passers-by but was not aiming at the school.

"The children were in class ... they weren't aware of what happened," Le Scanff said. "The situation is under control."

However, Le Scanff said police had not yet located the gunman and the school's afternoon session has been canceled.

The prefecture said in a statement that the shots were small caliber, which would be the equivalent of a BB gun.

Five of the 10 injured received light wounds, and the others suffered even less significant injuries, Padovani said. Two of the injured were taken to hospital.

There was no immediate information on the nature of the injuries.