The day after the five murders perpetrated not far from Dunkirk, an update on the first known elements of the tragedy.
The facts
The five murders were committed on Saturday in less than two hours, near Dunkirk. The bloody series began in Wormhout, where a 29-year-old entrepreneur was shot and killed in the courtyard of his home. The shooter then headed towards the coast by car. Around 4:00 p.m., two security officers from the Loon-Plage port area, who were patrolling their workplace, were killed by several gunshots. A few minutes later, five kilometers further, still on the outskirts of Loon-Plage, two migrants were also shot dead along the road.
A large police force was deployed on Saturday evening to block access to the Mardyck road, leading to the port area where one of the many migrant camps on the coast is also located.
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The suspect
Around 5 p.m., a young man handed himself in to the gendarmes in Ghyvelde, 25 km from Loon-Plage, accusing himself of the five murders. Several firearms (rifles) were then found in his car. Immediately placed in police custody, “he is unknown to the police services and the judicial authority,” said the public prosecutor of Dunkirk. Originally from the commune of Ghyvelde where he went, the alleged killer is a 22-year-old truck driver, according to “La Voix du Nord”. Registered with a shooting club, the man would have possessed his weapons completely legally.
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His exact motive remained unclear the day after the events, but the investigation is moving towards a settling of scores. According to a source close to the case cited by AFP, there could have been a professional dispute between the alleged shooter and the two companies in which the first three victims worked. The young man's lawyer confirmed to BFMTV that the first victim was the murderer's former boss. According to various sources, the two security guards could be former colleagues.
The victims
The first victim was a 29-year-old man, named Paul, according to “La Voix du Nord”. Married and father of two children, he was allegedly shot dead in front of his loved ones. Boss of a small local road transport company, he would therefore be the former employer of the killer.
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The next two victims, according to “Le Parisien” would be Aurélien, 33 years old, and Marc, 37 years old. The latter would be the father of two daughters. The two men worked for a security company, responsible for monitoring the port area. They were dog handlers, but unarmed. According to France Info, the two men are former colleagues of the killer. On Facebook, tributes flourished to salute the memory of the two thirty-year-olds known for having provided security for balls as part of the Dunkirk carnival.
The last two victims are believed to be two migrants, according to the prefecture and the police. These two Kurdish men of Iranian nationality were aged 19 and 30, named Mustafa and Ahmid, according to France 3 Hauts-de-France. These two men could be collateral victims, but their death created a wave of panic in the Loon-Plage camp, where nearly 600 exiles survive. Thinking they were the target of an anti-migrant crime, these people hid throughout the day.
The investigation
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”.
