On October 7, 2023, in Saint-Gervasy, the retired ex-CRS fired shots in the Tabac Presse where the boss and customers were. The former police officer did not appreciate being criticized for not having paid his bill.
Video surveillance images from La Remission, a Tabac Presse in Saint-Gervasy appear on the screens of the Nîmes criminal court. We see a man inside the business, shouting, addressing the boss and brandishing a handgun. It is October 7, 2023, around 4 p.m. The weapon jams but the suspect still fires shots three times, at eye level. The tobacconist protests, tries to calm this furious customer. Warheads will be found behind the counter. A customer tries to intervene and is targeted by the attacker. Other customers hide behind the shelves. Fortunately there will be no injuries.
Daniel, the shooter armed with a 6-35 automatic pistol, will be arrested by the police around 6 p.m. When he was taken into custody, the sixty-year-old had an alcohol level of 0.22 mg. The suspect was one of Tabac Presse's customers. That day, he had no means of payment with him and would not have appreciated being criticized for not having paid his dues.
A pistol recovered in Marseille
The perpetrator of the shots is a retired former CRS police officer. He has also been a hunter since he was 16. The police discovered an impressive number of weapons and more than 400 rounds of ammunition in his car and at his home. A particularity all the same, the automatic pistol was recovered by Daniel, when he was still a CRS and intervened at a place of dealing in the districts of Marseille.
Placed in police custody at the gendarmerie, Daniel is furious, insults the gendarmes, calls them “Smurfs”, assures that he did not want to hurt the customers and the manager of Tabac Presse. The suspect will explain that the weapon used lacked precision. And if he is armed… It was to protect himself against radicalized people. This angry man had not slept for several nights, was irritable, felt persecuted, his relatives describe. An alteration of his discernment was retained. The sixty-year-old will be hospitalized under duress then incarcerated for five months and placed under judicial supervision.
-“I wanted to scare them. I shot nearby… defends the former police officer prosecuted for violence with weapons before the Nîmes criminal court, this January 21. I was aiming for a glass cabinet. I didn't want to hurt them. I'm not crazy enough to do that. I apologize and I am ashamed of what I did.“In the room, former police officers and his family are present. “Afterwards, I felt ashamed. I regret having done this stupid thing. It was a weapon that I often took with me to defend myself”declares the defendant.
The representative of the prosecution, Estelle Meyer, requested five years in prison, including one year with a probationary suspension and a committal warrant against this man who “describes himself as being pro-American”. “This October 7, we came close to a tragedy, recalls the magistrate. For some innocuous reason, he shoots in the direction of the tobacconist. The weapon is a small caliber which has no accuracy beyond three meters. He knows it and knows the legislation. He comes to attack others. “
“He shot deliberately next to the victims. That’s why there were no injuries”maintains Me Jean-Pascal Juan, the sixty-year-old's lawyer. And he never sought to minimize his responsibility. The changeover took place during the summer. He suffers from hypomania. His discernment was impaired. Five months of pre-trial detention is a lot when you are 65 years old and a former police officer… He is bruised by his behavior.”
Daniel was sentenced to 4 years in prison, 16 months of which could be suspended.
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