A man shoots his boss and a colleague. The investigators are looking for answers for the bloody act, which the perpetrator does not deny. The 29-year-old had already acted very strangely before.
Les Plantiers (dpa) – A gruesome crime, a spectacular escape and finally surrender: In the case of a confessed gunman who shot two of his colleagues in France, there are initial indications of the motive.
However, there are still many unanswered questions. The 29-year-old surrendered on Friday evening after hundreds of emergency services had searched for him in the forest for days and an entire village lived in fear and terror. The investigators said that he had confessed to the fact, but showed no remorse. A dispute with his employer could be the motive.
There is so far no evidence that the shooter is paranoid, said Éric Maurel, the Nîmes prosecutor. However, experts would have to decide. “We feel that it is about someone who was afraid and who felt fear,” emphasized Maurel. The 29-year-old was afraid of the residents of the village, wore a bulletproof vest and set up a video surveillance system around his house. During the search for him, the investigators had repeatedly warned that the man was dangerous. He was on the run for 83 hours, including hiding in a boar cauldron.
The 29-year-old shot his boss and a colleague in the village of Les Plantiers in a sawmill on Tuesday. According to the investigators, he then fled on foot, and hundreds of emergency services searched the woods for him. He finally gave up on Friday evening. There was no bloodshed and no violence, the investigators said. The wanted man was extremely weak and emaciated when he presented himself. It is assumed that he gave up because of exhaustion.
What drove the man to the brutal crime is being used – he had already come to work armed with a bulletproof vest. Discussions between himself and his employer about a possible dismissal for serious misconduct could explain his violent, disproportionate and radical decision, Major Bertrand Michel said. According to documents found at his home, the 29-year-old was also angry with people in the village, as the newspaper “Le Journal Du Dimanche” wrote. On the Internet, he is said to have railed against French President Emmanuel Macron.
Helicopters, police dogs and cartographers had been looking for the man for days in the steep and wooded department of Gard – a village lived in fear. In the media there was talk of a “manhunt in the Cevennes”. The wanted man was called by his father in an emotional audio message to surrender: “Valentin, it’s papa, I love you, we love you.”
For the villagers, the Sagittarius surrender was a relief. Prosecutor Maurel emphasized that the people were devastated and traumatized by the act. Because he was caught alive, he will be able to explain his actions, said a resident of the small village with around 250 inhabitants, the channel Franceinfo. He emphasized that the alleged perpetrator’s family now also need support. It has nothing to do with the act.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210516-99-618701 / 2
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