in Cherbourg, questions after the shots

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In this HLM in Maupas, between the city and the Jean-Jaurès nursery school, a resident opened fire on Halloween night.

Shortly after 1 a.m., his neighbors in this priority district of the town of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche) were awakened by the noise.

“A powerful detonation”

” A powerful detonationtoo powerful for a firecracker,” according to a former soldier who went back to sleep immediately. Her next-door neighbor also heard “several gunshots” which woke up her baby, a few months old, without worrying her.

Sophie “jumped up” with her 14-year-old son to check in the parking lot that there was nothing wrong with her car. “I thought about a collision, and about my car, without it I can’t go to work,” she testifies. Then, back in her apartment, she went to her balcony, which overlooks the school. ” There was lots of smoke and noise for an hour or two. There was people outside who came to see what was happening,” she relates.

“A bad reputation since the 70s”

In the aftermath of the events, she does not hide her worry : “We stupidly went to the balcony, without being suspicious, without expecting this kind of thing. We could have taken a lost ball ! »

Françoise, who lives a little further away, near the Tocqueville high school, learned the news in the newspaper. Arriving in 1993, she does not feel insecure here. “It’s a quiet neighborhood, which has had a bad reputation since the 70s but I’m not bothered here,” she says. She is rather disturbed by the closure of the exchange island, a solidarity grocery store which “helped out”.

Firearms that raise questions

After thearrestof the resident, who fired several shots during the night from Thursday to Friday, investigators found many weaponsincluding a sawn-off shotgun and munitions .

“The most worrying thing is that irresponsible people have weapons in the hands,” thinks the former soldier.

“I don’t understand why people are armed like that in France,” Sophie reacts. It's a social problem and not the fault of the police, who cannot be everywhere. » She is impatient to move out of her apartment, managed by Presqu'île habitat. “I didn't come to live here out of wish and I hope it doesn't happen again. »

The man behind the shots from his window was arrested by police officers from the Cherbourg Anti-Crime Brigade. AlcoholicAt the time of the incident, there were no victims. He reportedly said “he fired from his window to show the neighborhood that he had weapons.”

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