three gendarmes seriously injured and one person killed in the explosion of a house

Three gendarmes were seriously injured and the man they had come to arrest died in the explosion of a house, Wednesday March 15 in La Chapelle (Allier), reports the public prosecutor of Cusset Eric Neveu. The man, who was the subject of an arrest warrant and who had an electronic bracelet, had previously made death threats against an agent of the Penitentiary Integration and Probation Service, learned France Télévisions from a security source. .

Three gendarmes and four soldiers showed up at the individual’s home on Wednesday, according to the same source. As he entered his home, the man was followed by three gendarmes, who arrested him and handcuffed him. They then noticed a very strong smell of gasoline. “Immediately afterwards, under circumstances unknown at this stage, an explosion [s’est produite]setting fire to the house”, said the security source.

The vital prognosis of a committed gendarme

Two badly burned gendarmes were airlifted to the burns department in Lyon. The third, more slightly affected, was taken to the Clermont-Ferrand Hospital Center. The vital prognosis of one of the three soldiers is engaged, said prosecutor Eric Neveu. Three other gendarmes, who intervened to extract their comrades from the house, were more slightly injured.

The 38-year-old man could not be evacuated in time. “The firefighters once on the spot [sont parvenus] to find his lifeless body and extract it”added the security source. “Was he waiting for the gendarmes? Did he plan to commit suicide by killing the gendarmes? We do not know for the moment the exact circumstances of this explosion, but there were a priori smells of gasoline [lors de l’explosion]. The roof of the house is completely destroyed”, said Eric Neveu. An investigation for “attempted homicide on a person holding public authority” was entrusted to the Clermont-Ferrand gendarmerie research section.