the essential
We know more about the profile of the man who shot dead five people last Saturday around Dunkirk. This discreet young man of 22, unknown to the police, owned around twenty firearms.
Paul D., a 22-year-old young man, surrendered to the authorities this Saturday, November 14, accusing himself of five murders committed in the afternoon around Dunkirk. We know more about his profile.
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Immediate confessions
The alleged killer was taken into custody after presenting himself to the gendarmerie in Ghyvelde (North) on Saturday around 5:20 p.m., two hours after the first murder.
The bloody series actually began around 3:15 p.m. in Wormhout (North), where the director of the road transport company who had not renewed the alleged killer’s fixed-term contract was killed in front of his home. Then around 4 p.m., two security agents aged 33 and 37 who were patrolling their workplace were in turn killed by several gunshots on the outskirts of Loon-Plage. And a few minutes later, two last men, who “could be of Iranian nationality […] aged 19 and 30” were also shot and killed, the prosecution said.
Sports shooting enthusiast
The gendarmes got their hands on a small arsenal during their search of the family home of Paul D., in Ghyvelde, near the Belgian border. They found a dozen hunting rifles, and some 5,000 rounds of 12 and 44 caliber ammunition. To this must be added the 5 firearms and 300 cartridges that the young man was carrying in his Citroën Berlingo when he surrendered to law enforcement. The projectiles match those found at the three crime scenes.
The young man was licensed in the La Jean Bart sports shooting club, in Leffrinckoucke, five kilometers from his home. “He was an ordinary sports shooter. He was not registered in competition and could train on the shooting ranges at 25 m and 50 m,” reports club president René Jossien to Le Parisien. “He did not have any special authorization and had to limit himself within our club to category C weapons.” However, according to the prosecution, Paul D. would be prosecuted for the acquisition, possession, carrying and transport of category A and category B weapons, subject to authorization.
“Introvert” with “cold blood”
René Jossien also describes someone as “very introverted”, “very discreet”, “who did not pose any particular problem”. For his part, Patrick Guerbette, the founder of the ECS company, two of whose security agents were shot dead, described the defendant on France 2 as a “frail, small, without real personality” man. While recognizing “the composure” of the individual who fired without trembling. “Which doesn’t correspond with the image we had of this character,” he says.
Paul D.’s lawyer, Me Véronique Planckell, speaks of an “adultescent” who “still has many immature sides”, who does not think about the “consequences of his actions” and does not have “fully awareness”. His client was indicted this Tuesday for assassinations concerning the first three victims. For the other two, he is being prosecuted for “murders preceded, accompanied or followed by another crime”.
