The man who went to the gendarmerie on Saturday, accusing himself of five murders committed in the afternoon around Dunkirk, is 22 years old and is not known to the police, said the prosecutor. of Dunkirk in a press release on Sunday. The man opened fire, killing four people in Loon-Plage (North) and one in Wormhout on Saturday, according to the gendarmerie and the prefecture. His motive remained unclear the day after the events.
The alleged killer, aged 22, 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.
He “is unknown to the police services and the judicial authority”, and “several firearms were found in his car”, indicated Dunkirk public prosecutor Charlotte Huet.
“Clear the reasons”
The investigation was opened for “murders preceded, accompanied or followed by another crime” and “acquisition, possession, carrying and transport of category A and B weapons”, acts punishable by life imprisonment. It was entrusted to the organized and specialized crime division (DCOS) of the interdepartmental service of the judicial police of the North (SIPJ 59), again according to the press release.
The prosecutor stressed that “numerous investigations are underway” in particular to “clarify the reasons which led the accused to commit these crimes”. According to a source close to the case, among the avenues considered, there could have been a professional dispute between the alleged shooter and the two companies in which the first three victims worked.
Victims aged 19 37 years
The five murders were committed in less than two hours, between Flanders and Dunkirk.
The bloody series began in Wormhout (North), in Flanders between Lille and Dunkirk, where a 29-year-old man was killed by several gunshots, “in front of his home”, indicates the prosecution. The town hall of Wormhout paid tribute to a “business manager”, who managed a small road transport company.
Then around 4:00 p.m., two security agents aged 33 and 37 who were patrolling the work site were in turn killed by several gunshots on the outskirts of Loon-Plage in the direction of Dunkirk, specifies the prosecution. The events took place in a vast industrial port zone where oil installations are scattered across vast grassy areas crossed by deserted roads.
A few minutes later, still on the outskirts of Loon-Plage, almost five kilometers further, two last men, who “could be of Iranian nationality, aged 19 and 30” were also shot and killed, indicates the prosecution. According to the prefecture and the police, these are two migrants.
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