“Saint-Julien is a small town normally spared from this type of violence. » Mayor Gaël Le Noane is torn between dismay and anger, the day after the fires which troubled the town, on the night of Thursday October 31 to Friday November 1, as spotted by our colleagues from Ouest France.
Three cars completely destroyed
Around 3:40 a.m., a first fire broke out in a car parked in the parking lot of the housing estate located on rue des Alouettes, near the cemetery. “The deputy who lives nearby was alerted by the sound of an explosion. Certainly that of the tires which burst with the heat, recalls the councilor. The fire then spread to the vehicle parked next to it.” The Perray firefighters, dispatched to the scene, managed to put out the flames but the two cars were completely destroyed. The owners, students, have since filed a complaint.
It was on their way to the scene of the incident that the Quintin gendarmes noticed a third vehicle engulfed in flames, one kilometer away, rue Saint-Gilles. Warned, the firefighters intervened but the car was engulfed in flames. The owner should file a complaint within the day.
A place burned down before summer
The police have opened an investigation to determine the origin of the fires. This is not the first time that the town of 2,000 souls has been the scene of such events. Already, recalls the mayor, “a building had caught fire near the cemetery before the summer. » A 40 m² garage where the town hall stores municipal equipment. The flames had devastated the roof, which has not been repaired since. It is currently impossible to know if the cases are linked.
An electric atmosphere in the afternoon
Furthermore, underlines the mayor, who is considering the criminal trail, on October 31 during the day, in favor of Halloween, an electric atmosphere reigned in the town of Saint-Julien. “At the football stadium, there was a disturbance in the afternoon: some young people annoyed others with firecrackers,” says the councilor. The family of one of the victims, previously threatened by one of the young people with a knife this summer, also filed a complaint on Friday.
The evening continued in the same tone. “Between approximately 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., the group of young people circulated in the town, with black hoods over their faces, and threw firecrackers at pedestrians and cars,” explains the mayor.
Friday morning, on social networks, the elected official “solemnly asked citizens who have information on what may have happened” to call the Quintin gendarmerie “in order to advance the investigation. » “This time, the damage was only material, but we are not safe from a more serious tragedy next time,” fears Gaël Le Noane. “This must stop immediately. »
France
