The incendiary scenario was most certainly premeditated. The three gendarmes seriously injured on Wednesday in the explosion of a house in La Chapelle (Allier) were victims of a “scenario” developed by the man, who died in the fire, whom they had come to arrest, said Friday the public prosecutor in Cusset (Allier).
“At no time did the gendarmes suspect that they could fall on such a trap”, but they were the victims of an “almost elaborate scenario” by the perpetrator, in connection with the anniversary date of his 15-year-old son “whom he has not seen for six years”, “his greatest suffering”, prosecutor Éric Neveu told the press.
“The first investigations confirm the thesis of a suicidal gesture with the desire to kill gendarmes simultaneously”, explained the magistrate, referring in particular to two premonitory videos posted Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning on Facebook and TikTok. This 38-year-old man, convicted ten times, mainly for drunk driving and domestic violence, said that “justice kept ruining his life and that she was going to pay”.
VIDEO. “It was burning everywhere”: gendarmes injured in the explosion of a suspect’s house
And “as in a form of will, he declared on Wednesday morning: today is a special day for me, my son’s birthday that I don’t see thanks to French justice, but it doesn’t matter, today is your birthday, your father hates , but I still love you, we’ll meet again in hell ».
Placed under an electronic bracelet, this man “with a paranoid personality”, adds in his videos, read by the prosecutor: “if justice believes that I am playing with them, I put 40 liters of gasoline there for you, there have the gas, I’m not afraid to burn out but you’ll burn out too”.
A call for the police
The investigation also established that, on the day of the tragedy, he had contacted a friend “to tell him that he was going to end up in prison before the weekend” and that he had already told him in July 2022 ” that he would use a jerry can and a bottle of gas if the gendarmes entered his home”. The tragedy occurred when seven gendarmes came to arrest him, after insults uttered by telephone the same morning to his prison counselor for integration and probation and to the gendarmerie of Mayet-de-Montagne (Allier).
Seeing them arrive while he was talking outside with a neighbor, the one who “regularly called the court to complain about the justice which condemned him, according to him, because he was black”, returned home. Three of the gendarmes, “after an exchange of about 10 seconds to try to bring him out voluntarily” then entered to try to control him. But “a spontaneous conflagration” was occurring. Helped by their colleagues, they managed to get out. The man’s body “was to be found entirely charred”.
The vital prognosis of one of the three gendarmes, 27, remains engaged. The other two, 35 and 33, are also seriously injured.