A septuagenarian was indicted in Finistère, suspected of having fatally shot an 11-year-old girl and her parents in the context of a neighborhood dispute. The man reportedly said in police custody that he had not targeted the child, according to the public prosecutor.
The conditions under which the 11-year-old British girl was killed and her parents injured on Saturday in Plonévez-du-Faou (Finistère) are becoming clearer, while the main suspect has been indicted and remanded in custody for “assassination” . His wife was placed under the status of assisted witness.
The public prosecutor of Brest Camille Miansoni, guest of BFMTV, said that the 71-year-old man, a Dutchman living in the town since 2015, had admitted to being “the only author of the shots” fired on Saturday evening towards 9:40 p.m.
The suspect and his wife test positive for alcohol and cannabis
In police custody, he expressed his “exasperation linked to the nuisances and untimely work” carried out by this British family living next to their home since 2019, “which would have disturbed the tranquility of his life and that of his wife since several years”.
According to the prosecutor, this conflict is linked to the fact that he and his wife were “safe before the pruning work” of this new neighbor who arrived in 2019. “But now they found themselves uncovered on their terrace”. “His explanations are much less explicit when it comes to discussing the death of this child,” adds the public prosecutor.
According to him, “he would not have specifically targeted the child. But in fact, the investigation revealed that the children were playing nearby in the courtyard of the property”.
At our microphone, the prosecutor also indicated that the suspect and his wife had tested positive for alcohol and cannabis after their arrest, specifying that he did not know whether “this consumption was before or after the facts”.
“The elements collected from the neighborhood and the statements of the indicted tend to indicate that there is a neighborhood conflict. An old conflict, which has lasted since this English family settled in this town”, he said. he repeated again.
According to prosecutor Camille Miansoni, mediation had been initiated by the town hall in 2019 after a first report, of which the gendarmerie had been notified. However, no complaint had been filed.
Two weapons bought in France and possessed illegally
Last Saturday, it was a new episode of work around 5 p.m. which would have “created the overflow that we know”, indicates the prosecutor. At around 9:40 p.m. in the evening, the 71-year-old Dutchman came out of his house armed with a rifle, approached about 10 meters from the victims, and fired three or four times in the direction of the British couple and children playing nearby.
The couple’s daughter was hit, and another girl who was playing with her managed to escape, pressed by her mother to flee. “This 8-year-old girl is extremely shocked, she is hospitalized in pediatrics,” said the prosecutor. “She was not physically victimized but everyone understands that she witnessed what happened.
The alleged shooter was in possession of two weapons bought in France and held “for a very long time in a completely illegal manner”: a 22 long-rifle carbine (category B subject to authorization) with which he shot at his neighbors, and another found at his home (subject to declaration).
Neither had been declared or subject to authorization, but the suspect had not until then made use of it “to the knowledge” of the public prosecutor. At this stage, there is nothing to confirm that he had already shown any violence. His arrest and that of his wife also took place in peace, while he was recluse in his home.
His wife, she was placed under the status of assisted witness because she is suspected of having moved the murder weapon, and therefore suspected of having wanted to hide it. However, she has not been charged at this stage of the investigation.