While watching the July 14 fireworks display with other family members, a 7-year-old boy and his 24-year-old sister were killed in a dramatic ‘shooting incident’. The tragedy occurred shortly after 11:00 p.m. “on stabilized ground near the Cholet stadium […] about fifty meters from the launch pad, ”said the public prosecutor of Angers, Eric Bouillard. An injured person was also hospitalized, in an unspecified condition.
Asked about the circumstances of the accident, the prosecutor mentioned a “shooting incident”, without further details. “It is much too early” to say more, he added, while an investigation has been opened for manslaughter, will have to determine the precise circumstances of the accident.
The scene filmed
Laurent Picard, who came to the fireworks with his two daughters aged 8 and 13, witnessed the accident, of which he posted some video images on Facebook. “I was 5/6 meters from the explosion with my two daughters, I received sparks and felt the heat of the blast,” he testified. “Fortunately, where I was placed I served as a shield for my daughters in a way”.
At the end of this video of a little over a minute, we see what looks like the explosion of a rocket among a small crowd massed behind a fence, then shouts and people running in all directions, while flames are visible on the ground. Shortly after the explosion, Laurent Picard said he saw a man lying on the ground, apparently burned, and a woman to whom rescuers were giving heart massage. “It was screaming everywhere, it was a bit of a panic,” he recalls, still shocked.
The fireworks went on anyway
Despite the incident, the fireworks were completed and the crowd dispersed, he said. About 70 firefighters were dispatched to the scene, according to the Courrier de l’Ouest. The mayor of Cholet Gilles Bourdouleix, explained that members of the security would have “advised people” near the scene of the accident “to move away”.
The municipality has been working “for years” with the pyrotechnician in charge of the fireworks, he added, and “this is the first time” that such a tragedy has occurred during the July 14 festivities in Cholet according to him. “It’s a terrible tragedy,” he commented.