Quintuple murder near Dunkirk: what we know about the suspect, “unknown to the police” and with “unclear motive”

Nothing was left to chance. The five murders were carried out in just a few hours, in three locations in the Dunkirk metropolitan area. Then the suspect went to the gendarmerie in the commune of Ghyvelde (North), again on Saturday December 14, the date of the quintuple homicide, to surrender to the local authorities. The 22-year-old man was immediately taken into custody after several weapons were found in his vehicle. Only its motive remains unclear.

First element of the investigation: the suspect “is unknown to the police and the judicial authorities”indicated Charlotte Huet, public prosecutor of Dunkirk. “Numerous investigations are underway to clarify the reasons that led the accused to commit these crimes”she added.

Acts punishable by life imprisonment

The investigation – entrusted to the organized and specialized crime division (DCOS) of the interdepartmental service of the judicial police of the North (SIPJ 59) – was opened to “murders preceded, accompanied or followed by another crime” et “acquisition, possession, carrying and transport of category A and B weapons”acts punishable by life imprisonment. According to a source close to the case, there could have been a professional dispute between the alleged shooter and the companies in which the first three victims worked.

As a reminder, the series of murders began in Wormhout, in Flanders between Lille and Dunkirk, where a 29-year-old man was killed in front of his home on Saturday, around 3 p.m., by several gunshots. The victim managed a road transport company according to the Wormhout town hall. Then around 4 p.m., two security agents, aged 33 and 37, who were patrolling their workplace, on the outskirts of Loon-Plage, were in turn killed by several gunshots. Only a few minutes later, still on the outskirts of Loon-Plage, two last men, migrants of Iranian nationality, aged 19 and 30, were also shot dead.

Tributes have flourished on Facebook to the two security agents, one known for having ensured the security of festive events at the Dunkirk carnival and the other for his voluntary commitment within the Loon-Plage Motorcycle club.

In Loon-Plage, red roses were placed at the place where the two migrants were killed, an embankment running along the railway line a few dozen meters from a camp made up of a few scattered tents. The police deployed in large numbers on Saturday evening had left the scene on Sunday. “We do not understand at all why the two exiles were targeted”for her part, indicated Salomé Bahri, coordinator of the migrant aid association Utopia 56 in Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk. She finally deplored that “nothing was planned” for other occupants of the camp: “Neither psychological support nor shelter”while “many witnessed the facts”.