In March 2012 local Islamic extremist Mohammed Merah opened fire at a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing a teacher and three children. One of the children, an eight-year-old girl, was shot in the head at point-blank range and a 17-year-old boy was critically wounded. President Nicolas Sarkozy called it an "obvious" antisemitic attack: "I want to say to all the leaders of the Jewish community, how close we feel to them. All of France is by their side." The Israeli Prime Minister condemned the "despicable anti-Semitic" murders. After a 32-hour siege and standoff with the police outside his house followed by a raid, Merah jumped off a balcony and was shot in the head and killed. Merah had told police during the standoff that he intended to continue attacking, and loved death as the police loved life. He claimed a connection to al-Qaeda.