What we know about the attack on a prison van in Eure which left at least two dead

An escape that turns into drama. At least two prison officers died on Tuesday 14 May, in the attack on their van in the Eure, at the Incarville tollbooth. Three other officers were seriously injured.

The vehicle was transporting a detainee, convicted four days earlier for a burglary, and who was being taken to the Rouen judicial court (Seine-Maritime). He managed to escape with accomplices. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about the circumstances of this attack.

A car ramming attack

Tuesday, around 11 a.m., a commando attacked the prison van at the Incarville tollbooth, on the A154. In amateur footage, filmed from a coach, we see through the windshield two men dressed in black, with hoods on their heads and masks, who are robbing the van personnel with weapons, in front of the passengers. “There would be two vehicles that came. [Un des deux a servi comme] ram [et] hit the van at the Incarville toll booth. The men were armed with shotguns.relates Johann Maugé, departmental secretary of the SGP Police de l’Eure union, to France Télévisions.

Sandrine and Audrey, employees of a temp agency located right next to the toll barrier, heard “around twenty, around thirty exchanges of fire”. “We heard firecrackers, and very quickly, we realized that it was a shooting, that it was real gunshots“, testifies Audrey to France Bleu Normandie. “About ten minutes later”they heard “the flashing lights, the sirens”she specifies.

“A man escaped and to carry out this escape, his accomplices did not hesitate to shoot the escorts with heavy weapons”, commented the Minister of Justice. The specialized national jurisdiction for the fight against organized crime of the Paris public prosecutor’s office has taken charge of the investigation and its magistrates are going to the site. The investigations are entrusted to the central office for the fight against organized crime and to the Rouen judicial police. They relate to the offenses of murder and attempted murder by an organized gang, escape by an organized gang, acquisition and possession of weapons of war, and criminal association with a view to the commission of a crime.

Two prison officers killed, three injured

Two prison officers died, “during this long weapon attack”, confirmed the Paris prosecutor’s office early this afternoon. One of the two dead agents “leaves a wife and two children who were due to celebrate their 21st birthday in two days, the other leaves a wife who is five months pregnant, parents and of course friends”specified the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, around 2 p.m., during a quick press briefing from a crisis unit of the ministry created in Paris.

Three other officers are seriously injured, including two “have their vital prognosis compromised”, added Eric Dupond-Moretti. “Everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime.he insisted. They will be arrested, judged and they will be punished according to the crime they committed.”

The prisoner on the run linked to organized crime

According to the first elements of the investigation, the detainee who escaped is very unfavorably known to the police and justice services. “The prison van was carrying Mohamed Amra born in March 1994, who thus escaped”, confirmed the Paris prosecutor’s office, which specified that the man had been convicted on Friday by the court of Evreux (Eure) for a burglary. He was detained in execution of this sentence at the Val-de-Reuil penitentiary center, says the Paris prosecutor’s office. The prison administration assures for its part that Mohamed Amra was incarcerated in the Evreux remand center.

According to France 3 Normandie, this 30-year-old man is associated with organized crime. He was notably involved in drug cases, but also in kidnapping, kidnapping and attempted homicide. He is also indicted in Marseille for kidnapping and sequestration leading to death, specifies the Paris prosecutor’s office. According to consistent sources, the inmate had attempted, shortly before the events, to saw off the bars of his cell, in an attempt to escape.

According to the Ministry of Justice, at the time of the attack, the detainee was being extracted to go to the Rouen judicial court. Contrary to what was initially indicated, he was not registered as a particularly high-profile detainee (DPS), but required a level 3 escort, i.e. a convoy made up of five prison officers including an officer, specifies the administration penitentiary.

The Epervier plan triggered, then lifted

The Epervier plan, used by the gendarmerie to mobilize its units for a specific duration and area, was put in place directly after the attack, before being lifted at the end of the afternoon. Around twenty members of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) went to the site. In addition, 200 gendarmes secured the area, coming from of Eure, but also of four neighboring departments (Seine-Maritime, Calvados, Val-d’Oise and Yvelines). A gendarmerie helicopter flew over the area to find the fugitives.

Then, at the end of the afternoon, the gendarmerie confirmed to France Télévisions the lifting of the Epervier plan. Which means that the investigation phase continues in a more traditional way : “Only investigations will eventually lead to police operations.” If the vigilance of the police in the sector is reinforced, the gendarmerie reinforcements deployed Tuesday morning have now ceased.

“We will be intractable”, reacts Emmanuel Macron

Political reactions quickly poured in, including at the highest level of the state. “This morning’s attack, which cost the lives of prison officers, is a shock for all of us”wrote the head of state on the social network “Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime so that justice can be done in the name of the French peoplepromised Emmanuel Macron. We will be intractable.”

“We will spare no effort, no means. We will hunt them down. We will find them. And I tell you, they will pay”, launched, for his part, the Prime Minister, in the hemicycle of the National Assembly, who observed a minute of silence before the question session to the government. THE “country (…) will never back down from violence and attacks” And “stands united, in solidarity behind all those who fight to uphold the law”, said Gabriel Attal. MPs from all sides have widely commented on this attack, from La France insoumise to the National Rally.

Eric Dupond-Moretti, the first member of the government to react, first addressed his “thoughts” to the victims, on X, before speaking to the press. The Minister then announced that he was going to the judicial extraction center at the Caen penitentiary center (Calvados), “to meet the colleagues of those who were killed.”