A policeman was killed this Wednesday evening in Avignon – CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP
- A 36-year-old policeman was shot dead this Wednesday in Avignon during a check on a known point of deal.
- According to statements by the public prosecutor, the murderer is still on the run the day after the events.
The murderer of the 36-year-old police officer shot dead late Wednesday afternoon in Avignon during a drug control, was still at large on Thursday, the Avignon prosecutor said.
“The murderer of Brigadier Eric Masson has not yet been arrested, but all means will be implemented to this end,” assured Philippe Guémas, during a press briefing.
A person in police custody
“A person is in custody, the drug addict woman that the brigadier had just controlled, and her hearing is still in progress,” added the representative of the prosecution, after going into detail on the course of this tragedy.
Called by their command center following a report of residents complaining of disturbances around a known deal point of the Cité des Papes, in the rue des Teinturiers, in the heart of the old town, Brigadier Eric Masson and his colleagues in fact noted on their arrival, around 6.30 pm, that the street was “perfectly calm and that their intervention was pointless”.
A narcotics trade
The police from the Vaucluse-Gard departmental intervention brigade, in civilian clothes, then decided to monitor this narcotics point of sale and to split into two teams.
After witnessing “what looked like an exchange of drugs between a woman and an individual”, Brigadier Masson and one of his colleagues decided to “discreetly follow the buyer towards rue du Rateau”. It is in this street that Eric Masson rose to the height of the client, who immediately recognized the facts after he declined his quality of police officer, “armband in hand”.
Passed away a few minutes later
“Two individuals then advanced in the direction of the two police officers and one of the two, carrying a satchel, asked the police officers what they were doing there”. While Brigadier Masson again declined his status as a police officer, the individual carrying the satchel took out a weapon and “fired twice, hitting him in the chest and abdomen”.
Eric Masson’s colleague then fired two shots in turn, without being able to prevent the shooter and his accomplice from fleeing. Brigadier Masson died on the spot, a few minutes later.