Gunman's father asks why police killed him


PARIS (AP) -- The father of the Muslim gunman who attacked French soldiers and a Jewish school says he wants to know why special forces killed his son rather than knock him out with gas and "take him like a baby."

In a brief interview aired on Tuesday by France 24 TV, Mohamed Benalel Merah asked why a "strong country" with options killed him instead of capturing him.

Mohamed Merah, 23, killed seven people. Police killed him after a 32-hour standoff at his Toulouse apartment. Authorities have said Merah had fired volleys at them.

Merah's father, who lives in Algeria, said he should have been taken alive and judged.

He asked: "Why did they kill him? ... They could have used gas, for example to take him like a baby."

Merah reportedly wants to file a complaint for his son's death.