The facts took place around 1 p.m. in front of a private sports complex in the town of Saint-Dionisy, in the Gard, about fifteen kilometers from Nîmes. A 50-year-old man killed a 27-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man on Saturday, presumably his ex-girlfriend and her new companion, before committing suicide, the prosecution said.
“The first elements make it possible to envisage a double homicide followed by the suicide of the author of this double crime”, explained the public prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac, in her press release, specifying that “the victims could to be the ex-partner (of the shooter) and the new relation of this one”.
The number of feminicides has increased
The facts took place “outside the sports hall” of the town, “by firing a firearm (and) in the presence of a few witnesses”, added the magistrate. “No criminal proceedings were in progress for facts relating to the relationship in the couple” between the shooter, aged 51, and his former companion, added Cécile Gensac.
“Investigations are in parallel in progress in order to reconstruct the family environment and to audition the witnesses. A medico-psychological emergency unit has been set up for the benefit of witnesses and relatives, ”she continued. The flagrance investigation, opened for assassinations, was entrusted to the research brigade of the gendarmerie of Vauvert and to the research section of Nîmes.
The number of feminicides increased by 20% in France in 2021 compared to the previous year, with 122 women killed under the blows of their spouse or ex-spouse, according to the latest figures available from the Ministry of the Interior.