Last Thursday, shortly after 11 p.m., two shots rang out in the gendarmerie barracks in
Villefranche-de-Lauragais, south-east of Toulouse. A 54-year-old soldier, with marks on his face, then claims to have been attacked by a man armed with a knife and, in order to defend himself, had to fire warning shots with his service weapon. An assault that creates a stir and is the subject of an investigation for attempted voluntary homicide on a person holding public authority.
After several days of investigations by the research section of the Toulouse gendarmerie, which followed all the leads, the investigators gathered “a set of material elements allowing to seriously question the statements of the victim”, indicates the Toulouse prosecutor’s office in a press release. Whether through the findings on the scene, the statements or injuries of the victim, have raised doubts.
Psychological weaknesses
After additional biological and psychiatric analyzes, the gendarme was questioned Wednesday morning as part of police custody. “These latest investigative acts, which seem to establish that the alleged victim invented an assault that never took place, lead the prosecution to prosecute for denouncing an imaginary crime and damage to public property. These offenses are punished respectively by sentences of 6 months and 5 years of imprisonment as well as 7,500 and 75,000 euros in fines ”, continues Samuel Vuelta-Simon, the public prosecutor of Toulouse, in a press release.
The psychological fragility of this soldier could explain his gesture. The latter was referred to the prosecution this Thursday morning, which requested his placement under judicial supervision “including a ban on exercising his profession and holding or carrying a weapon pending his future appearance in court.”