It was a long-term investigation which led to the arrest of three people, according to the prosecutor in a press release sent this Sunday. Facts, which date back to May 16 in Nouméa, in the Rivière-Salée district, at the start of the riots. A police vehicle was targeted by gunfire. Three police officers were seriously injured. Two people, indicted, face life imprisonment.
This Sunday, June 30, 2024, the public prosecutor’s office announced the opening of a judicial investigation into the charge of attempted voluntary homicide of a person in a position of public authority, “namely four BAC police officers committed on May 16, 2024 in Nouméa”An investigation which led to the referral of three people involved.
The facts date back to May 16, around 4:30 p.m., “in a context of very intense violence, four police officers belonging to the anti-crime brigade, the BAC, were driving around the Rivière-Salée district looking for a vehicle likely to be involved in the looting of the Balande armory, in the Ducos sector.”
It was then that the police noticed “a group of individuals including a man wearing a police tactical vest from a previous robbery.” The man, who fled, was lost from sight.
As the police vehicle passed in front of the group of individuals located on Colardeau Street, a man wearing a tactical vest appeared and opened fire. “with a shotgun aiming at the police vehicle.” The driver and the officer in the back seat behind him were injured in the face.
The police vehicle was then fired upon a second time. This time, the shot hit the police officer in the back of the vehicle, “very seriously injured in the thigh.”
Finally reinforcements manage to come to their aid, “by providing relief to the injured until a helicopter arrives to transport them to the Médipôle hospital center.”
According to initial medical findings, the police officers’ injuries are consistent with the use of a firearm.
- The driver, a peacekeeper, had multiple ballistic impacts in both eyes, with the presence of metal shards in the face and shoulder, justifying a total incapacity for work of 21 days, “and with possible permanent disability”.
- The left rear passenger, a brigadier, was also injured in the eyes and face as well as the left index finger, justifying a total incapacity for work of 21 days, “with permanent disability due to loss of use of his right eye.”
- The passenger, right rear, a peace officer, was hit in the thigh with a bone fracture. A man who lost consciousness and then underwent emergency surgery, justifying total incapacity for work for 45 days, “with possible permanent incapacity”.
- Finally, the front passenger, a brigadier-chief, was not hit by a projectile. According to the prosecution, he presents “very significant psychological harm, justifying a total incapacity for work of 10 days”.
The investigations led to the arrest of 12 people this Wednesday, June 26, 2024, namely the people who made up the group on rue Colardeau.
An investigation which allowed “to determine the alleged participation in this attempted murder of the police officers by three individuals, the shooter and his accomplice as well as a third having concealed the murder weapon, which was found during a search.”
The prosecutor stated that during his police custody, the alleged shooter, a 26-year-old man living in Noumea, admitted to using his weapon, a hunting rifle, twice on the BAC police officers as their vehicle passed. “He had been at the rioters’ roadblock since 7 a.m., where another individual had asked him to get the rifle as the police vehicle approached and then had encouraged him to fire at the police by saying ‘shoot, drawn”. The man said he aimed his 25-06 caliber rifle with a scope at the vehicle.
He was indicted for attempted murder of a person holding public authority and placed in pre-trial detention.
According to several witnesses, the shooter’s accomplice, a 23-year-old man living in Nouméa, was presented as “very active and aggressive at the roadblock and determined to increase tension by constantly repeating shooting at the police.”
He was charged with complicity by instigation of attempted murder of a person in authority and placed in pre-trial detention.
The third person involved, the shooter’s brother, was charged with concealing evidence of a crime or offence by hiding the sniper rifle used in the attempted murder. He was placed under judicial supervision by the investigating magistrate.
The two people indicted face the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
