In a pizzeria near Paris, three hours of hostage taking without…

Three hours of hostage taking, and an outcome without injuries. Saturday afternoon, a “drug addict” and suicidal man, armed with a knife, took refuge in his parents’ pizzeria in Issy-les-Moulineaux, before being arrested by the police who released the employees. retained.

The four people, employees of this restaurant located in a lively district on the outskirts of Paris, were brought to safety by the police shortly before 4 p.m., a police source told AFP.

There were “no injuries,” said this source. The man was taken into custody in the premises of the Hauts-de-Seine judicial police.

The Nanterre public prosecutor’s office confirmed that it had opened an investigation into kidnapping and sequestration. “He will be subject to a psychiatric examination” to see if police custody is compatible with his condition, he said.

This man “with a drug addict profile” according to a source close to the case, had locked himself in his parents’ restaurant, located a few meters from the Paris ring road, shortly before 1:00 p.m.

According to the police source, he had already “committed similar acts” at home in 2022 “with the threat of suicide”.

There were no “customers or public” in the restaurant with him. Shortly after the arrival of the police, an AFPTV journalist saw the parents of the trapped man, two visibly upset sixty-year-olds, hand them the keys to the restaurant.

Personnel from the BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade, an elite unit of the Parisian police) were quickly deployed on site, including a mediator, “hired because of the person concerned’s desire to commit suicide”, said indicated the police source.

Negotiations were carried out before the police intervened.

The man, aged around 35-40 years old according to a source close to the case, is also not known to the courts.

– “No incident” –

On .

The security perimeter was lifted around 4:40 p.m. The police had previously installed, upon their arrival, tapes to block access to a large perimeter. And had asked the many curious residents of neighboring buildings to move away from their windows.

In front of the restaurant with its bright red storefront and lowered curtain, like other neighboring restaurants also closed, AFP journalists on site saw around twenty police officers with orange armbands on their arms.

In the street, many others were deployed, some helmeted and armed, as well as numerous police cars and fire trucks.

“I saw the police arriving earlier, it’s impressive… I’ve already been to the restaurant, there was no problem,” says Monique Teichet, retired and resident of the neighborhood.

Regarding the entrenched man, Anthony, a 23-year-old student, who preferred not to give his last name, told AFP: “I see him every evening in passing, he is not well. He has a drug problem, I think.”

“They have a good reputation, except for him. He had already lost his temper a few years ago, it’s sad,” a manager of another pizzeria in the neighborhood seems to sympathize.

“Intervention in progress, let the security and emergency forces work,” the police headquarters wrote at the beginning of the afternoon on of an “incident in progress”.

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By Tiphaine LE LIBOUX and Joseph SOTINEL / Issy-les-Moulineaux (AFP) / © 2024 AFP