French police are searching for a masked gunman after an elderly woman was stabbed to death in a retirement home for monks in southern France, the country's Gendarmerie said Friday. The security forces have evacuated the residents, about 60, who are safe and sound," a local official told Reuters. A Gendarmerie spokesman said early Friday that more than 100 members of the security forces were dispatched to the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, near the city of Montpellier in the southern tip of France, after being alerted by a guard at the monks' residence. The security forces searched the residence as well as basements and side buildings, but did not find the assailant. France has been under a state of emergency since last year's Paris attacks, which killed 130 people.

Source: CBC News November 25, 2016 01:00 UTC