A policeman used his weapon on Sunday April 24, shortly before midnight, on the Pont-Neuf, in the center of Paris. He was aiming for a car that drove into him and his colleagues, according to a police report. Two occupants of the vehicle died and the third was injured. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about these shots, which rang out just hours after Emmanuel Macron’s re-election as President of the Republic.
A control gone wrong
The facts occurred on the Pont-Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, which spans the Seine at the tip of the Ile de la Cité, in the heart of the capital. According to a police report consulted by franceinfo and France Télévisions, five police officers responsible for securing the Paris police headquarters spotted the parked car around 11:45 p.m. “in the opposite direction of traffic” on the Quai des Orfèvres. The police officers, who were patrolling on foot, approached “determinedly towards the front of the vehicle” to control it, again according to this report.
That’s when “the vehicle started then rushed towards one of the officials who moved away to avoid it”, continues the police report. One of the officials, 24 years old and the only one armed, then opened fire with his assault rifle on the vehicle, which was heading in the direction of Pont-Neuf and the Quai du Louvre, on the other bank of the Seine. According to the first elements of the investigation, he used “a dozen cartridges”whose “five or six impacts having reached individuals”. The shots stopped the car on the bridge, according to the police report, which specifies that it is a dark gray Volkswagen Polo, registered in Paris.
Two dead and one injured
The 25-year-old driver of the car died instantly. When the firefighters and the Samu arrived on site, around midnight, he was “inert” behind the wheel. The front passenger, who was 31, was lying on the ground to the right of the car. In cardiac arrest, he succumbed to his injuries despite the care provided on site. According to a source familiar with the matter at France Télévisions, these two men were “unfavourably” known to the police, in particular for narcotics cases.
The third occupant, who was in the back of the car at the time, was seated on the deck, away from the others. According to information from franceinfo, this 42-year-old Frenchman was injured in the right arm. He was taken to the Parisian hospital of La Salpêtrière, where he must undergo an operation “for the haemorrhage in his right arm”. His days are not in danger. He is unknown to the police.
According to the police report, a taxi driver, who says he witnessed the whole scene, “confirmed the self-defense cited by the officials”. Interviewed by AFP, an Egyptian tourist present on a hotel terrace on the roof of La Samaritaine said he heard shooting “four balls”. “When I looked, I saw a man running ten to fifteen meters. Then he collapsed” he testified again.
Two open investigations, the IGPN seized
The public prosecutor of Paris, Laure Beccuau, arrived around 1:30 a.m. on the spot, according to AFP. The prosecution thus opened an investigation for “attempted intentional homicide on a person holding public authority” and entrusted it to the first district of the judicial police. It is “to bring to light the circumstances of the shootings which led to the death and injuries of the occupants of the vehicle”specifies the Paris prosecutor’s office to France Télévisions.
Once on the scene, the investigators began their findings. Technical and scientific investigations were also requested. The assault rifle was placed under seal. The police were disarmed. The person who fired was tested for drugs and alcohol, as required by procedure. He was taken to hospital for tests, where he also saw a psychologist. He then came out.
An investigation was also opened for “voluntary violence resulting in death without intention to give it”, the investigations of which were entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN). The five police officers were heard early Monday morning at the police headquarters, franceinfo learned from a source familiar with the matter, as part of this procedure, which is systematic when a police officer uses his weapon.