“A deadly journey. » With these words the prosecutor of Saint-Denis, Véronique Denizot, described the sequence of terrible events that occurred this Saturday morning in the town of La Possession (west of Réunion), leaving three dead, including a five-year-old child and a half-year-old child Dozens injured, which ended with the arrest of the suspect hiding in a bank branch.
According to the initial findings of the investigation, it all began shortly after 6 a.m. in a house on Chemin Bœuf-Mort, a residential area on the hills of the city. For reasons that are still unclear, a 38-year-old man attacked his mother on Saturday evening, fatally stabbing her five times.
In his outburst of violence, he then attacked the five-year-old girl being held at their home, a great-niece whom her father had dropped off just a few minutes earlier before heading to work. Since little Lorane suffered “multiple stab wounds,” she will not survive.
Dementia behavior
“Alarmed by the screams, a neighbor who is also part of the family tried to help them, but was also threatened with a weapon that could have been a sword and a stick,” the prosecutor explained. It was 6:30 a.m. when the madman fled behind the wheel of his car, a white Renault Twingo. He then undertakes a destructive drive on the way to the city center. First by mowing down a jogger who escaped with a few broken ribs, then a scooter rider who sustained minor injuries.
The crazy car then arrives at Sarda Garriga Street, a shopping street in the city center. It’s 6:45 a.m. There, near a Leclerc supermarket, whose cameras will film the entire scene, the Twingo crashes into a vehicle around which two people were busy at the open trunk. One of them was hit by the car and was still in hospital on Saturday evening, with no threat to her vital prognosis. The other is unhurt but shocked.
As a third person approached to help them, they were struck by the suspect’s vehicle. She was identified in the hospital on Saturday evening.
The prosecutor of Saint-Denis, Véronique Denizot, and the commander of the Réunion gendarmerie, Colonel Frédéric Labrunye. LP/SG
This time, when he restarts his car, the man comes across a motorcyclist. A shock that forces the fugitive to abandon his vehicle and seek refuge in a nearby Crédit Agricole branch. If the facility isn’t open to the public at this early hour, a 54-year-old maintenance worker has the misfortune of already being at work.
He, in turn, will suffer the wrath of the madman, still armed with his saber, who takes refuge in the room to his victim. Although the nature of the violence suffered by the fifty-year-old was not known that Saturday evening, the man died from his injuries shortly after being treated by emergency services.
After receiving the first alarm from near Chemin Bœuf-Mort at 6:45 a.m., the gendarmes deployed a large device between the house where the first drama occurred and the city center, which was cordoned off for a seizure-like intervention . Hostage. It’s 7:05 a.m. “We received calls every three minutes to 17 from different locations. This required an intervention of unusual proportions,” describes Colonel Frédéric Labrunye, commander of the Réunion Gendarmerie. Up to 70 soldiers are deployed in the city, including 16 gendarmes from the GIGN department.
Alcoholic, unemployed and already interned
Pretty quickly they understand that it will be impossible to negotiate with the madman, whom the local prefect refers to as “a state of dementia.” » The attack took place shortly before 9 a.m. with stun grenades, but no shots were fired. “The absolutely necessary use of force was used to control and arrest the suspect, to bring him to justice and to allow an investigation and trial for the victims,” continues Colonel Labrunye. During the operation, a GIGN soldier was slightly injured.
Since his condition was deemed compatible with the measure following a medical examination, the suspect was taken into police custody following his arrest. This Saturday evening, the motive for his actions was still unknown. “He has no criminal record and a record of violent offenses dating back to 2008, which, however, led to his disqualification,” said the Saint-Denis public prosecutor’s office, adding that the person “was not known for radicalization.” and was not the subject of any special intelligence reporting. In fact, he made no such comments.”
In his family circle, the 30-year-old, who still lived with his mother and had no known job, is described as an alcoholic and capable of violent outbursts, which in the past would have led him to hospitalizations in a psychiatric setting.
An entire city traumatized
Personality characteristics to be established through the investigation initiated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for “murders and attempted assassinations” and entrusted to the Research Department of the Gendarmerie. 25 investigators from different units, three forensic scientists and three forensic pathologists were mobilized “taking into account the large number of crime scenes and victims” to shed light on these “extremely rare” events on Reunion Island. », emphasizes Colonel Labrunye.
As the day progressed, local elected officials multiplied their sad reactions to what everyone now calls “the tragedy of possession.” » The city’s mayor, Vanessa Miranville, expressed her “sadness for all the people who lost a loved one in these dramatic events” and wanted to send “her support to all the injured people” as well as her “thanks to the police and Fire departments were very mobilized. »
With state support, a psychological support unit was set up in a room in the town hall to receive any witnesses or victims of the events. The suspect’s pre-trial detention was continued on Saturday evening, before it was expected to be extended on Sunday. Ultimately, he could be brought before an investigating judge on Monday.