The affair could have turned into a tragedy. On April 16, 2023, at 4 a.m., a public safety assistant grabbed the gun he was carrying from a holster on his belt and fired into the door of his workplace – that night, the gatehouse of the Russian mission in Geneva. No one was injured. His colleague who was near him at the time of the shooting “could certainly have been fatally hit”, specifies the partial classification order. But the defendant, aged 46, was not aware of this. He actually thought he had a dummy training pistol in his hand, similar to the Glock 19, but not capable of firing ammunition. The endangerment of the lives of others was therefore ruled out.
On the other hand, the forty-year-old was found guilty of violating the federal law on weapons by criminal order. And for good reason: that night, he had brought the fake weapon back from France to his workplace without having an authorization to import it into Switzerland or a permit to transport it. He explained that he acquired this training pistol because he felt that officers did not practice shooting often enough. He had exceptionally taken it with him to show it to his colleague.
At 4 a.m., when he had grabbed the weapon he was carrying on his belt, he was convinced to take the dummy pistol in hand in order to practice shooting. It was actually his Glock 19. Due to his tired state and the low light in the shelter, he had confused the two. He had been surprised by the detonation and the flash. He was fined 1000 francs. Neither the criminal order nor the partial classification was appealed.
Swiss
