Everything returned to normal shortly before 7 p.m. Monday October 2. For several hours, the quiet town of Saint-Ouen-des-Alleux, near Fougères (Ille-et-Vilaine) had been the scene of an unusual affair. An armed man had been holed up in his home since 10:30 a.m. and an altercation with his neighbor. According to the Vitré-Fougères company gendarmes, the man brandished a chainsaw when they arrived and appeared threatening. “We first called the PSIG (gendarmerie surveillance and intervention platoon) but we heard several gunshots. We then requested the intervention of the GIGN,” explains one of the officers present on site on Monday. As a precaution, several residents and the school located nearby were evacuated.
For several hours, the gendarmes and GIGN negotiators spoke with this man whom the local gendarmes “know well”. The madman was calmly arrested shortly before 7 p.m. He was not injured. The reasons for the altercation are currently unknown. The man was taken into custody.