A tragedy was undoubtedly avoided. A 16-year-old teenager, suspected of having planned to commit a “mass killing”, was arrested on Monday April 22, indicates the prosecutor of Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes), Damien Savarzeix, in a press release which was sent to 20 minutes. The suspect, who suffers from “psychiatric disorders”, was indicted this Thursday for “participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a crime, in this case assassinations, and public apology for crime or misdemeanor.” He was incarcerated by the judge of freedoms and detention.
The case dates back to February 23. The Alpes-Maritimes departmental council reports to the courts the worrying comments made to a child psychiatrist by a young man aged 16 and a half of Turkish nationality. A speech which leaves one “fearing an imminent act of a murderous nature”, explains the magistrate, who opened a preliminary investigation into the charge of apologizing for terrorism or crime, entrusted to the Antibes police station. Investigators quickly discovered that the suspect was subject to compulsory hospitalization.
Bladed weapons and bulletproof vest
On March 6, 2024, a judicial investigation was opened. The rest of the investigations are entrusted to the Nice judicial police. The police will become certain that the teenager “nursed a plan for mass killing, without religious connotation”, continues Damien Savarzeix. While searching his home in Antibes, they discovered swastikas, “cabalistic signs on the walls of his room”, as well as “notebooks describing in broad strokes his criminal project, bladed weapons and a tactical bulletproof vest”.
His compulsory hospitalization was lifted, and the teenager was taken into police custody on Monday. The investigation continues in order to determine “the criminal responsibility of the minor in view of the psychiatric disorders he presents”, details the Grasse prosecutor. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has been notified. The local prosecutor’s office “remains seized of the facts for the moment”.
Contacts with a young girl
Exploitation of the suspect’s computer and telephone also revealed that the teenager had come into contact with a young girl, aged 17, hospitalized in a psychiatric ward in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in Manche. She “seemed to share his murderous intentions”, indicates the magistrate. The young woman was also taken into custody by investigators from the Caen judicial police. She has since been hospitalized without consent.