Manhunt for the gunmen who attacked a prison van in Normandy today, Tuesday killing at least two prison officers and releasing the maximum security prisoner being transported at the time, has unleashed the police.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau named the fugitive-detainee as Mohamed Amra, born in 1994, who last week was convicted of aggravated robbery as well as a kidnapping case resulting in death. The maximum security prisoner was being transferred from a court in Rouen to a prison in Evreux when the attack on the van took place.

How did the cinematic escape happen?

The attack was carried out by a group of people in two cars while the police vehicle was stopped at a toll station between the cities of Rouen and Evreux. One of these vehicles was found shortly after the events, “charred”, while police sources report that the criminals fled with one injured. “The whole country is shocked by this unprecedented attack,” the French prime minister told parliament. Gabriel Atal observing a minute’s silence for the officers who were killed.

French media reported that the men were dressed in black, wearing balaclavas and were also heavily armed.

Video taken by a bus driver shows the gunmen at the time of the attack heading towards the white prison van with automatic weapons.

“Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X. “We will be irreconcilable.”

French Justice Minister Eric Dupont Moretti said hundreds of police officers had launched a manhunt to track down and arrest the criminals. In addition, he claimed that the police officers were shot with “heavy weapons” by accomplices of the prisoner.

One of the prison officers killed was married with two children, while the wife of the second officer killed was five months pregnant.

They are looking for the perpetrators

A unit of the GIGN special police force has launched a manhunt to arrest the perpetrators. The interior minister wrote to X that he ordered the activation of France’s Epervier plan, a special operation launched by the gendarmerie for such cases.