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Heavily armed man shoots three policemen
| Reading time: 3 minutes
A woman runs away from her partner on the roof of a house. The police rush to help. Three officers die in the hail of bullets. The attack causes consternation at the top of the state.
Swanted to come to the aid of a threatened woman and died in the rescue operation: France mourns the loss of three policemen who were shot by a violent criminal in the middle of the night. A fourth gendarme was injured. Prosecutor Éric Maillaud spoke of a “real scene of war”: hundreds of cartridges were found at the scene.
The woman had fled to the roof of her home in a remote town in central France on Wednesday night. She alerted police through a friend that she had been beaten by her new partner, the prosecutor reported. The house was on fire. The officers died while trying to save the woman. The perpetrator was found to “cause a massacre,” the investigator said.
The severe attack just before Christmas caused consternation and sympathy in the country. “The nation shares the pain of the families,” said Head of State Emmanuel Macron via Twitter. To protect citizens, the security forces risked their lives: “They are our heroes,” said the president. The murdered gendarmes were 21, 37 and 45 years old.
The suspect was found dead
The suspect was found dead a kilometer and a half from his home. Suicide is assumed, so the prosecutor. Among other things, an assault rifle was found and the suspect had four knives on his belt. The 48-year-old gunman fled after setting fire to his house in the small town of Saint-Just, southeast of the city of Clermont-Ferrand. The security forces used more than 300 agents and a helicopter in the night search for the fugitive. The woman is safe.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin went to the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne to offer his condolences to the colleagues of the murdered gendarmes. Apart from terrorist attacks, it is one of the worst incidents in the history of security forces, said the depressed-looking department head. “We owe them respect and recognition.” Four children are now orphans, he said, referring to the families of those killed.
The alleged perpetrator had a custody battle over a child from a previous relationship, investigator Maillaud said. Until now, the violence between the man and his new partner was unknown. The man with military training was a shooter and had a “very worrying profile,” according to the investigator. “Perpetrators of domestic violence are a threat to society,” Interior Minister Marlène Schiappa told BFMTV.
Injured policeman taken to hospital
The wounded policeman was taken to a hospital. The gendarmerie in France belongs to the army, but it assumes police functions and is therefore also subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior.
In France, intimate partner violence is a sad ongoing problem. It was only in the summer that parliament passed a new law allowing a relaxation of medical confidentiality to protect against domestic violence. Doctors or medical personnel can report suspected acts of violence to the authorities if they suspect that there is an imminent threat.
Attacks on police, rescuers and bus drivers have sparked debate in France in recent months. Prime Minister Jean Castex condemned the violent attacks on law enforcement officers in his government statement in the summer and assured the police of his support.
