In Avignon on May 9, 2021, police officers pay tribute to Eric Masson killed during an intervention. – Daniel Cole / AP / SIPA
Only a few hours after a tribute that gathered an emotional crowd in front of the Avignon police station, the investigation into the death of Eric Masson has taken a new step. Two people suspected of being involved in the murder of the police officer on Wednesday were arrested Sunday evening. The gunman who fatally shot the 36-year-old brigadier in central Avignon fled immediately with his accomplice.
The arrest took place about twenty kilometers from the city, we learned from a source close to the file, without further details. Contacted, the Avignon prosecutor’s office did not wish to comment at this stage. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who will attend a national tribute on Tuesday to the police officer chaired by Prime Minister Jean Castex, for his part congratulated the police via Twitter for these arrests, saying that “this crime should in no case go unpunished ”.
A known point of deal
Called Wednesday on a well-known drug trafficking point, in the historic center of Avignon, the police officers of the Vaucluse-Gard departmental intervention brigade, in civilian clothes, including Eric Masson, had carried out the control of a client “of which looked like an exchange of narcotics, ”according to prosecutor Philippe Guémas. While the woman had just been arrested by the two police officers, “two individuals came forward (…) and one of the two, carrying a shoulder bag, [leur] asked what they were doing there “:” Eric Masson declined his quality of police officer and the individual took out a handgun and fired twice, hitting him in the thorax and the abdomen “. The policeman died on the spot.