A 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of al-Qaida, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday.

“At the moment when a video probe was sent into the bathroom, the killer came out of the bathroom, firing with extreme violence,” French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said, adding that Merah was firing several guns at once.

“In the end, Mohamed Merah jumped from the window with his gun in his hand, continuing to fire. He was found dead on the ground,” he told reporters at the scene. Two police commandos were wounded. . .