The suspect confessed to the crimes, the premeditation “for now” retained

The premeditation is, for the moment, retained, within the framework of the investigation into the double homicide which occurred in a sawmill of Cévennes, in the Gard. According to Eric Maurel, the public prosecutor of Nîmes, the man, suspected of having shot his boss and one of his colleagues, was equipped, when he arrived at his workplace on Tuesday, with a weapon ” which was stocked ”and, no doubt,“ ready to fire ”.

The suspect, who went, without violence Friday evening, to a patrol of gendarmes, confessed to the crimes, said the prosecutor, this Wednesday, during a press conference. “The confessions have been repeated so far, continues the prosecutor, Eric Maurel. He is calm, expresses himself and is coherent, these hearings have made it possible to advance the investigations. The man also refused to be assisted by a lawyer.

He was scared “

During his custody, the suspect spoke of “an altercation”, the morning of the facts, with his employer and a colleague, about “his working conditions” and, in particular, “payment of overtime”, the prosecutor notes. The suspect was also worried by “a possible dismissal for serious misconduct”, indicates Bertrand Michel, the colonel of the gendarmerie of the research section of Nîmes. “He went over the rollers that are used to drive logs, and he opened a first combination, then a second garment under this combination, then grabbed his weapon,” said the prosecutor, Eric Maurel. He is then suspected of having opened fire “three or even four times” on the victims. “These are the elements that lead me to keep the idea of ​​premeditation”, confides the magistrate.

The hearings also allowed investigators to refine the psychological profile of the suspect. “There is nothing to say that he is paranoid, let’s leave it to the psychiatric experts to determine it”, notes the prosecutor, but the man “was afraid”. “He felt fear vis-à-vis several people in the village, and it was this fear, that these individuals would attack him or his family, which had led him to wear a bulletproof vest. to get to work for almost three years. And to go to work with a handgun for several months. He had set up a video surveillance system around his home, which was useful to investigators to determine the conditions under which he had gone, Tuesday, after the tragedy, in the forest.

Only one weapon was found

Before fleeing into the scrubland, the man returned home to equip himself. These are “members of his family” who warned the gendarmes, “as soon as he told them that he had committed these appalling acts”, continues the prosecutor. A witness to the facts, an employee of the Plantiers sawmill, had also alerted the police.

In the forest, he got rid of the two weapons, at least, which he embarked in a flight. So far, only one handgun, which had been hidden, has been found. It was hidden in a dead chestnut tree. “It could correspond to the weapon which was used during the crime”, but ballistic expertise will have to confirm it, continues Eric Maurel. The other weapon, a rifle, cannot be found. Only the elements that compose it have been discovered. “He did not want to harm the gendarmes, so he got rid of his weapons very quickly”, explained the suspect, indicates Bertrand Michel, the colonel of the gendarmerie of the Nîmes research section.

The suspect’s custody should be lifted this Sunday, at the beginning of the afternoon, said the prosecutor. He will be brought before an examining magistrate, for the counts of assassinations. The prosecution will request his placement in pre-trial detention.