On October 29, 2001, in Tours, Henri Gasq hurried on to make up for his five minutes delay. This teacher must spend the morning meeting with colleagues from his union at the courthouse. Suddenly, an explosion. The man collapsed on the sidewalk of Boulevard Béranger. He died at the age of 48, killed outright by a shot from an individual dressed in fatigues and a hooded hood. The killer's first victim lies bleeding.
The killer, whose name is still unknown, kills three other passers-by: Gilles Lambert, 68 years old, retired, and Chérif Tlili, 59 years old, construction worker, also fall on Boulevard Béranger. Thierry Enguerrand, 33, guard of the city's sports center, collapsed in front of the station.
Terror in the city center
Witnesses of the scene remember this episode of Crimes and testimonies at the microphone of Romain Dézèque from France Bleu Touraine: “ He saw people looking at him, he shot, he shot at passing cars, at everything ». « He didn't say anything. And then as soon as he saw someone approaching him, he would shoot, he was determined », Adds another local resident. “ I just had time to hide behind my car; the guy kept shooting at everything he saw. A bullet passed by my ears, I heard it clearly! », Specifies a third.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m., agent Frédéric Formet received an alert. He and two colleagues rushed into the service car and in a few minutes, they found themselves face to face with the shooter: “ He's targeting us. The only thing I can do, […] it's like throwing a steering wheel when two windows of our vehicle explode with the impact of his bullets. […] Lieutenant Edouard Sauret is injured. […] I aimed my gun at the shooter, but in the background, a person was walking behind him, so I couldn't fire », he explains to the journalist from France Bleu Touraine.
A nightmare lasting more than an hour
The killer takes advantage of this moment of hesitation to take refuge in an underground parking lot located a few meters away. Police officer Formet enters in turn and assesses the situation. He comes out in a few strides and returns there, protected by a bulletproof vest. He sees the armed silhouette of the attacker and orders him to surrender. His only response was to hear a new explosion: a bullet had hit him in the wrist. The officer returned fire, injured the man in the chest, managed to arrest him and had him taken to the hospital.
The toll was terrible: 4 dead, 7 injured, 16 rounds fired. 149 others were found in the killer's bag.
The isolated action of an almost normal man
The police end up identifying the author of the carnage: his name is Jean-Pierre Roux-Durraffourt. He is a railway worker. He is 44 years old. He seems well integrated into society, almost “normal”. His motivations are still unknown. He reportedly has an accomplice who is actively sought.
A disaster, an uppercut
In town, no one knows anything.
Around noon, the Gasq family waits for the return of Henri, the father, to sit down to eat. Seeing that he was slow to return, his wife Dany and their three children thought that his meeting was over, he went “ have a drink » with his colleagues. But in the afternoon, still without news of him, they wonder: “ My eldest [se rend en ville], leaves a note on the windshield of his father's car: “call us as soon as you read this note.” And they follow the path that their father did. [Ils passent] before the court and they [dirige] towards the police station. There we presented them with my husband's watch and chain. This is the beginning of the disaster », she explains to Romain Dézèque in front of the commemorative stele placed near the court.
Soraya Tlili, the daughter of Chérif Tlili, one of the three other victims, also testified several years after the events with Romain Dézèque for France Bleu Touraine. As she returns home, the scenes she witnesses worry her: there is a security perimeter, firefighters cover a body with a white sheet, police prevent her from entering her house located a few cables from the parking lot where the killer was arrested.
Concerned, she counts on the 8 p.m. television news to inform her. And there, the images struck her: “ There was a body that was covered, but the shoes were sticking out of the sheet. I recognized my father's pair of shoes […]. I call the police station, I give my identity and they confirm that my dad is dead. It's an uppercut! And there, I feel a great cold. And then there’s an emotional void. I put myself in a kind of bubble and in fact, that's where the trauma will come from since this bubble will be very difficult to get out of. ».
From reconstruction to trial
On March 16, 2003, a new ordeal awaited the families of the victims: reconstruction. “ When we met the assassin, we had the impression that he was smiling, that he was happy. We cried like crazy because we were experiencing it in real life », Explains the widow of Henri Gasq. The accused, Jean-Pierre Roux-Durraffourt, refuses to participate.
The trial opened on March 16, 2005. The defendant, who acted alone, appeared before the Indre-et-Loire Assize Court. One of the lawyers for the civil parties, Maître Marc Morin, remembers, speaking to France Bleu Touraine: “ I was right in front of him and at that moment he assumed a posture with his head held high. And I said to myself: that's it, he arrived where he wanted to arrive, that is to say [être] a famous day and [faire] media headlines ».
Two key questions arise: first, why such a gesture? Next, is the man crazy? The accused claims to remember nothing. “ A comfort strategy », according to Maître Morin who adds: “ It's chance and that's what sends shivers down your spine. So it's gratuitous assassination. What is unbearable for the victims in this case is to say to themselves “We were shot like rabbits, for no reason” ».
So, is a crazy move the move of a crazy person? This is the psychiatric aspect of this case. The five expert opinions ordered all arrive at the same conclusion: the accused is in his right mind.
After two weeks of trial, the verdict falls: Jean-Pierre Roux-Durraffourt receives the maximum sentence, life imprisonment, accompanied by 22 years of security.
Between survival and resilience
« I ended my life in 2001. His ashes are at the top of the Grande Motte glacier in Tignes. », confides Dany Gasq at the microphone of France Bleu Touraine who regularly thinks back to the “ five minutes late » from her husband that day to go to his meeting: “ It destroyed everything ».
Soraya Tlili, for her part, took almost twenty years to emerge from her trauma. The turning point came when she discovered the concept of “resilience”: “ When I contacted the specialized service of the [centre hospitalier de Tours], [les médecins] immediately considered the state of emergency in which I was ».
Today, Soraya Tlili is doing better. In 2021, she is at the initiative of commemorating the twenty years of this killing. Like the need to move on without forgetting.
An inmate now free?
The convict's 22-year security period expired in 2023. And Jean-Pierre Roux-Durraffourt filed a request for release. A prospect that terrifies the families of victims…
Credits:
Report: Romain Dézèque
Sound recording and mixing:
Production and direction: Véronique Sapet. France Bleu creative studio
