A suspect with no apparent link to Islamic terrorism has been identified following the stabbing death of an elderly woman in a French retirement home for Catholic missionaries, a prosecutor says.
The suspect is believed to be someone "in the entourage of this retirement home", Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret said in a news conference on Friday.
He said investigators discovered an air gun and other elements in a car near the residence that helped identify the suspect.
"There is no element linking the facts with Islamic terrorism", he said, but the exact motivations of the attacker remained unknown.
About 130 police officers are hunting the suspect following the attack on the woman on Thursday night.
General Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, chief of the gendarmerie in the region, said the suspect was considered "very dangerous".
Police forces are patrolling on foot and in vehicles and a helicopter is involved in the search around the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez, near the city of Montpellier.
The body of the woman, a care assistant, was found late Thursday, gagged and tied up outside the building with three stab wounds.
The police were alerted by another worker who did not suffer serious injuries.
The residence is operated by the African Missions Society, and takes in retired priests, nuns and others who have worked on missions in Africa.
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