France: Two prison officers killed in prison van ambush, one inmate escaped, suspected gang ties

Known as “The Fly”, Amra was being taken from court to a prison in the city of Rouen near Paris on Tuesday when a car rammed the prison van at a toll booth and armed men opened fire.

Prosecutors say the 30-year-old had been convicted of burglary on 10 May and had also been indicted by prosecutors in Marseille for a kidnapping that led to a death.

He was being held at the Val de Reuil prison, near Rouen, and had reportedly appeared at a nearby court in relation to those new charges prior to the ambush.

Amra was not a “closely watched inmate”, prosecutor Laura Beccuau said, using a term for highly dangerous prisoners.

At around 9am local on Tuesday, 14 May, a prison van was ambushed by a group of hooded men near a tollbooth in Val-de-Reuil in Normandy.

Video footage appears to show a collision between the prison van and a black vehicle, while images have also appeared of the suspects carrying guns.

Two male prison officers were killed while another three are receiving treatment after they were seriously injured by gunfire, with two in critical condition.

The prisoner they were escorting, Mohamed Amra, was then able to escape with the gunmen in two vehicles, which were quickly abandoned and burned. According to local reports, the white Audi A5 was found ablaze in nearby Vatteville, Eure.

Eric Dupond-Moretti, France’s minister of justice, has said one of the prisoner officers who was killed left behind a partner who was five months pregnant, while the other had a wife and two children.