Two investigations were opened this Tuesday, November 26 after a Saint-Étienne municipal police officer shot and killed a man who threatened a woman in the street. The city’s mayor Gaël Perdriau praised the “coolness” of municipal agents.
A man armed with a knife was shot dead by a municipal police officer this Tuesday, November 26 late in the afternoon, after threatening passers-by in a shopping street in Saint-Étienne. This individual notably threatened a woman in the street by placing his weapon under her throat.
Shortly before 6 p.m., the police officer used his service weapon because the man was “aggressive” and threatened people with a knife, prosecutor David Charmatz told AFP. The latter explained to BFMTV that this man is unknown to the police and justice services.
• “No terrorist dimension” at this stage
Abdel, manager of a mobile phone store, was busy in his store with customers at the time. “I heard shots,” he told AFP on the spot. “I went out and saw that there were cops in a circle. (…) They started cardiac massage until the firefighters arrived.”
Emergency services were unable to resuscitate the man. The woman who was attacked was slightly injured, according to the prosecutor who immediately went to the scene. As it stands, the attack does not appear to have “any terrorist dimension,” said David Charmatz.
• Two open investigations
Two investigations were opened by the Saint-Étienne public prosecutor’s office, one to understand the background of this man, the other for murder regarding the fatal shooting of the police officer.
“I salute the responsiveness, the professionalism, the composure of the municipal police officers who were the first responders on site,” welcomed the mayor of Saint-Étienne Gaël Perdriau, who also visited the scene.
“In ten years that the municipal police have been armed in Saint-Étienne, this is the first time that they have opened fire,” he insisted. The police were equipped with pedestrian cameras and the scene was filmed by video surveillance, he said, hoping that this would help investigators retrace the scene.
The FO union of Saint-Etienne municipal police officers expressed in a press release its “empathy towards these agents and more particularly towards the agent who had to use his service weapon, as part of his missions for the protection of the people of Stéphane, with the consequences that this implies.”
Related News :