A manhunt is underway in France after two prison guards were killed when a gang attacked a transport van to free an inmate.
The escaped prisoner was identified as Mohamed Amra, a convicted burglar who goes by the nicknamed La Mouche, or “The Fly.”
Amra is also the subject of an investigation of an alleged kidnapping and a separate homicide case in Marseille, according to the Associated Press.
Another three guards were injured in the carnage, which occurred around 11 a.m. local time while the convoy was en route to Rouen in northern France. Multiple vehicles struck the van at a toll booth and assailants fired “heavy weapons” to aid the escape before fleeing with the prisoner.
“All means are being used to find these criminals,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a statement. “On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilized.”
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said during a news conference that it was the first time since 1992 a French prison service worker has died in the line of duty.
“Everything, and I mean everything, will be done to find the perpetrators of this heinous crime,” he said. “These are people for whom life means nothing. They will be caught, they will be judged, and they will be punished according to the crime they have committed.”
