On Tuesday, a man was arrested in Toulon, suspected of being the author of several murders of homeless people in recent days, including that of a man in Lyon. What other cases could he be involved in? What do we know about this suspect? Where is the investigation? 20 Minutes takes stock.
What happened in Lyon?
Monday morning, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, near Perrache, a homeless man of Moldovan nationality was discovered dead with a large wound in the head, a bloody concrete block next to him.
A CCTV camera filmed someone hitting him in the head. An investigation into an assassination has been opened, with the perpetrator actively sought.
On Tuesday, the police arrested an individual on board a train in Toulon after the report of a woman who had just been attacked. “After checking the file of wanted persons, the police realized that he was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by an investigating judge in Evry,” said Toulon prosecutor Samuel Finielz .
What are the other murder and attempted murder cases for which he is a suspect?
This man is actually suspected of having committed the homicides and attempted homicide “with the same modus operandi” in Evry, Dijon and Strasbourg, according to another police source. According to another source, he only attacked homeless people and the known crimes spanned the last few weeks.
On the night of November 4 to 5, a homeless person was attacked in the same way in Rotterdam. The scene was also filmed. The victim is currently in a coma.
What do we know about the suspect?
During his arrest, the individual presented himself as a 32-year-old Cameroonian subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF), according to a police source.
In a wanted notice, published on the Internet, the Dutch police released an image of a dark-skinned man, aged around thirty, wearing a black raincoat, blue pants and orange lace-up shoes. “This man seriously injured a homeless man this week with a large tile,” she wrote. He was then located on board an international train heading to Belgium.
After the Toulon arrest, Dutch police said they were “investigating whether this is the suspect linked to the Rotterdam attack”. “At this stage we cannot confirm this,” said spokesperson Janine Tuinfort.
Where is the investigation?
“The man was placed in detention and measures will be taken so that he is transferred to the ordering investigating judge”, or to Evry, added the Toulon prosecutor, without giving further details.
Analyzes, particularly of DNA, are now underway to determine whether he is indeed the author of these crimes, according to another judicial source.
