SENSELESS VIOLENCE

Suspect Identified in France Retirement Home Attack

Brutal stabbing at retirement home not linked to terrorism, authorities say.

French authorities have identified a suspect in Thursday’s stabbing attack at a retirement home in southern France, prosecutors said Friday. The suspect is someone “in the entourage of the retirement home” with no links to terrorism, Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret said in a Friday news conference. A 54-year-old woman was stabbed to death at the retirement home where 60 Roman Catholic missionaries live about 6 miles from Montpellier on Thursday, prompting a manhunt. Investigators discovered a car near the crime scene that contained an air gun and other items, Barret said, and the car helped determine the suspect. The name of the suspect has not been disclosed, but about 130 police officers are currently searching for him. He is considered “very dangerous,” Gen. Jean-Philippe Lecouffe told The Associated Press.