1. Mohammed Merah was a French jihadist who admitted to killing seven people, including three children, in several shootings in southwestern France in March 2012.
31 Facts About Mohammed Merah
1. 2.
Mohammed Merah was killed following a police siege and standoff.
3.
Mohammed Merah was raised, along with his two brothers and sisters, by their single mother in a "tough part of Toulouse".
4.
Mohammed Merah was arrested numerous times as a youth, mostly for petty crimes such as purse-snatching.
5.
Mohammed Merah was known to French authorities because of his travels to Afghanistan and Pakistan, which were on various watch lists.
6.
Police have been investigating whether Mohammed Merah acted alone in planning his attacks.
7.
On 25 December 2008, Mohammed Merah tried to commit suicide by hanging.
8.
Mohammed Merah had been married but separated from his wife.
9.
In January 2008, Mohammed Merah tried to join the French Army, but was rejected because of his criminal past.
10.
French media reported that in 2010 Mohammed Merah had forced a neighbour's boy to watch graphic war videos from Afghanistan and beat up the boy's sister after the mother intervened.
11.
The French newspaper JDD reported Mohammed Merah's friends described him as a "nice guy" who "got on well with everyone".
12.
Mohammed Merah's friends found him sometimes devout, but Merah would go clubbing.
13.
Mohammed Merah had traveled to Geneva, Switzerland on a skiing trip with two friends a month before the attacks.
14.
Mohammed Merah allegedly bought a GoPro video camera there which he used to film his attacks.
15.
Mohammed Merah had reportedly split from his wife days before the shootings.
16.
Mohammed Merah was unemployed at the time of the shootings after having worked as a coachbuilder.
17.
Mohammed Merah filmed all of the killings using a GoPro camera strapped to his body.
18.
Mohammed Merah made a video of them set to music and verses of the Koran.
19.
Mohammed Merah sent the video to news agency Al Jazeera.
20.
One video shows Mohammed Merah shooting two French Muslim soldiers in Montauban, and shouting Allahu Akbar.
21.
Mohammed Merah admitted anti-Semitic motivations for his attack during the siege with police.
22.
Mohammed Merah wanted to avenge the French Army's involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
23.
An editor at France 24 reported that Mohammed Merah told him that these acts were not only necessary, but that they were to "uphold the honour of Islam".
24.
In 2003, Mohammed Merah stabbed Abdelghani seven times as the latter refused to give up his Jewish girlfriend.
25.
Canadian journalist Rosie DiManno argued that Mohammed Merah was motivated neither by religion nor the treatment of immigrants in France.
26.
Mohammed Merah noted that while Merah had familial links with militant Islam, there was no evidence that Merah was involved with militant groups or even any religious congregation.
27.
Mohammed Merah observed that Merah had dubbed his film of the shootings with verses from the Koran invoking jihad and the greatness of Islam before he mailed it to Al-Jazeera.
28.
Sheehan argues that Mohammed Merah specifically targeted Muslim soldiers and Jews in a premeditated attack.
29.
President Sarkozy's intelligence adviser stated that Mohammed Merah did not originally target the Jewish school, but attacked it only after arriving too late to ambush a soldier nearby.
30.
Etelin stated that Mohammed Merah was abandoned by his father as a child, and there were reports that he split with his wife days before the attacks.
31.
Mohammed Merah was buried on 29 March 2012 in the Muslim section of the Cornebarrieu cemetery, near Toulouse.