A man fired a small air gun at mothers waiting for their children outside a school in the French city of Lyon today, lightly wounding five of them and causing panic in the neighbourhood, police said.
"He shot at people who were in front of the school," a police source said, later adding that the targets were mothers waiting at the entrance of the pre-school for children aged between two and six.
The gunman did not hurt or aim at any of the children. Police said they had evacuated the school and were still searching for the man, who had apparently fired the shots from a building opposite the school.
Authorities in Lyon cancelled the city carnival, due to start today, and closed off the neighbourhood where the shooting took place.
Security in schools and nurseries is a particularly sensitive issue after last week's school shooting in Germany, in which a teenager shot dead 15 people before killing himself.