A person threatened to commit suicide with gas and shoot out the windows of his home in Béthune. The man took refuge in his apartment in a collective building. The RAID managed to get him out of his house by negotiating.
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The excitement in the rue Mannessier district this Tuesday, January 7, 2025 in Béthune. A man holed up in his home for almost 4 hours. He threatened to commit suicide with gas and shoot out the windows of his home.
It was his neighbors in a collective building who raised the alarm late in the morning. Very quickly, firefighters, police, prosecutor and elected officials arrived on site. A large security perimeter has been set up. The residents of the building were evacuated as well as those in adjacent streets. Due to the nature of the threat, GRDF has cut off gas throughout the sector. Traffic was stopped.
The events took place in front of the André Malraux high school in Béthune. It was therefore necessary to manage the entry and exit of students. The principal of the establishment was included in the broadcast loop.
“The national police of Béthune have frozen the situation“, explains the first deputy Pierre-Emmanuel Gibson, but that was not enough to dissuade the madman. The Raid, the elite intervention unit of the national police, therefore intervened shortly after 1 p.m. “A negotiator took matters into his own hands“, specifies the elected official. “Around 3:30 p.m., the individual allowed himself to be arrested without putting up any resistance. It went smoothly and calmly and that’s a good thing“.
Immediately after the end of the intervention, the national police carried out a search of the apartment. The individual was referred to the Beuvry hospital center. Already placed under guardianship, he presents with mental and psychological problems. A phenomenon that worries the first deputy who remembers a similar event a few years ago: “In Béthune, we have more and more people in distress.”
Residents were able to return to their homes by mid-afternoon. The street has been reopened.
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