French soldier shoots 17 in hostage-taking exercise

French soldier shoots 17 in hostage-taking exercise

afp.google.com

32 Minutes Ago

CARCASSONNE, France (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy promised swift and severe punishment Monday after a soldier shot and wounded 17 people, including a three-year-old boy and both his parents, at an open day at an army barracks.

The sergeant opened up with an assault rifle, firing live rounds instead of blanks into a crowd of hundreds of visitors watching a hostage-taking exercise Sunday at the base near the southwestern city of Carcassonne.

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Wow, imagine being the poor soldier that opened fire on the crowd during the demostration, thinking he is shooting blanks, only to realize he accidentally loaded live ammunition.

It's a good thing no one was killed and people were only injured.

The thing that bothers me the most is the French President Nick Sarkozy says he will administer "swift and severe punishment" to the soldiers. Is that really necessary? It was an honest mistake on the soldier's part, and no one was killed.

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reply to post by OrangeAlarmClock


I do not know what planet you are on but as an ex professional soldier I assure you you do not "accidently" load live rounds instead of blanks, then there is the little matter of the blank adaptor you need to fit to use blanks which would have been destroyed with the first shot