This Wednesday, the day after the tragedy that struck the city center of Brest (Finistère), the Cité du Ponant is still walled in a leaden silence. Tuesday, around 10:30 am, the first floor of one of the beautiful buildings on rue d’Aiguillon was the scene of a violent homicide, the motive of which is still unknown. It is the murderer who would have called the police himself, who intervened as quickly as possible on the call. They could only note the death of Me Gilles Grannec, 55, married, two children, auctioneer well known in the sector, whose body seems to have been larded with knives…
“We can’t believe it, tell, still in shock, the two managers of the Maison de la Maroquinerie, a large brand located just below the apartment in question, who were able to watch the scientific police at work. We heard dull noises, then like “booms”, as if furniture was violently knocked over, even thrown.
“Gilles, he was a super Nice person”
The scenario of this case remains mysterious for the time being. Me Grannec had come to appraise a painting at this particular, according to his colleagues. The auctioneer, a specialist in painters who have stayed in Brittany, and more particularly around the Pont-Aven school, was at the head of the auction room on rue du Château, the doors of which have remained closed since the tragedy. . The company was also established in Douarnenez and Lorient – where a study was recently opened. “Gilles was a super nice person, fair, human, joyful and dynamic, slips a resident of a neighboring town who knew him well. We will miss you… We have arrived in a crazy world… How sad! »
“He always had the word to joke, slips an acquaintance. Always smiling, he will be missed. All our condolences… “. “Affable”, “gentle”, “attentive”, “nice”, “sincere”, the pretty words are not lacking to Finisterians who have known or rubbed shoulders with him. Like this family from Brest, friends with the Grannec family for nearly 30 years. So much so that their youngest son had now become an auctioneer in another region. “And he would never have become one without his “mentor”… Gilles”, slips, moved, this relative at the side of her husband. “He had a real passion for his job. He was an adorable, simple and very funny person. We are devastated, there is no other word”.
Me Grannec lived with his family in Rosnoën, at the entrance to the Crozon peninsula, where he was a municipal councilor, alongside the current mayor, Mickaël Kernéis. “He often frequented the Daoulas market on Sundays, confides a resident of the town. I had already had a painting appraised by him. It was always a pleasure to meet him and talk to him”. In Brest, for the whole neighborhood where this violent crime took place, it is the most total incomprehension. ” What happened ? Sighs a neighbor. Surely he was unbalanced? Or would there be a story behind a work or the painting in question? »
The profile of the suspect
The alleged murderer was described by the neighborhood as “lonely” – but, for all that, “friendly”, “discreet”, “polite”, “rather sympathetic”. On social networks, his professional profile seems, in appearance, serious and composed. At first glance, far from the image of unbalanced potential. The suspect was born in Nice in 1959 to a Breton father (from a town near Brest). A former student of HEC, he has “20 years’ experience in commercial or general management positions, in human-sized companies, service providers to companies, in a very international context and in particular German (speaks seven living languages, French and German mother tongues).
Former specialist in the launch of activity, the recovery of activity, ”he describes himself on social networks. As for his current main activity, he details “Freelance in a liberal profession – Translator and interpreter, writer”. In the past, with his former partner, he would have lived several years in Germany, and he would have maintained a strong professional link with this country. Freelance translator and interpreter (from German/English into French) “in the areas of finance and business management, accounting and auditing, marketing and legal areas, banking and finance, industrial companies in the mechanical and machine tool sectors, the automotive sector, subcontracting included, construction and related building industries”, he also contributes to “reviews” and considers himself a “writer”.
A fervent defender of Breton culture and identity, he has already contributed to the Étonnants Voyageurs festival, in Saint-Malo, in 2017, for the time of a conference. He is also a contributor to a controversial Breton web media close to the far right.
