“A living site for a dynamic village. This is how Dover describes itself in its web presentation. The peaceful town of Ain, located near Ambérieu-en-Bugey and with a thousand inhabitants, became infamous on Wednesday for a family killing that will mark a milestone. The fivefold murder of a blended family, followed by the death of the perpetrator, shot dead at 11:35 a.m. by the GIGN, was formalized on Wednesday evening by the Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor’s office. 20 minutes returns to the main questions raised by the bloody affair, since the state of siege of this house in Dover, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.
How did the GIGN proceed with the killer?
From 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the operational center of the Ain gendarmerie was informed that “several members of a family from Dover were probably killed by an individual in his twenties, also a member of this family” , as explained by the public prosecutor of Bourg-en-Bresse Christophe Rode. When the gendarmes immediately go to the scene, they therefore have little hope of finding traces of people alive, apart from the alleged killer. They discover that the main suspect is still in the pavilion, and this “probably armed”. After having in turn gone to the site at 3 a.m., the Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor’s office requested the arrival of the Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie (GIGN) of Dijon, in addition to co-seizing the group of the Ain gendarmerie and the research section of the Lyon gendarmerie to conduct the investigations.
More than 100 gendarmes and investigators are therefore mobilized in Dover, very early Wednesday morning. Even before daybreak, the gendarmes try to get in touch with the madman. But he refuses to answer telephone calls from them, as well as direct contacts attempted by the negotiators. Faced with this silence, the gendarmes of the GIGN storm Wednesday at 11:35 am. Christophe Rode reveals the rest.
They find that the determined respondent has taken refuge in a closed room in the pavilion, his torso and limbs covered with protections, and armed with a saber and a long-barreled shotgun. Despite several summons addressed to this individual to lay down his arms, and despite having an electric pulse pistol, the madman points his weapons and advances in the direction of the gendarmes, who then use their weapons on four occasions, causing serious injury to the individual. »
The latter could not be resuscitated by the emergency services and he died of his injuries at 11:55 a.m. In addition to the investigation for intentional homicides opened by the prosecution and entrusted to the gendarmerie, another investigation was initiated for the use of weapons by the gendarmes of the GIGN. It was entrusted to the service of the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie (IGGN).
What was the connection between the murderer and the five victims?
The Bourg-en-Bresse prosecutor’s office did not expand on the precise identity of the five victims, and we simply know that the killer was therefore “also a member of this family”. According The Parisian, the stabbing victims are his father, director of a construction company in Ain, his mother-in-law, and three minors. Namely his 17-year-old sister, the daughter of his stepmother (15 years old), and his 5-year-old half-brother. According to France Info, the family had recently moved to Dover, where they had renovated an old building and where they participated in social life, as during the last school party in the village.
What profile did the killer have?
It was a 22 year old young man. According The Parisian, he had returned to live in this family home in Dover a few weeks earlier, after finding a job in a fast food restaurant in Ambérieu-en-Bugey. One of the main questions on Wednesday concerned the psychiatric condition of the suspect. “According to the first information gathered by the investigators, the perpetrator suffered from psychiatric disorders”, indicates on this subject the prosecutor of Bourg-en-Bresse, after having described him as “determined”.
To the point of having himself called the gendarmes of Ain on Tuesday evening, to tell them that he had killed his family with a katana, a long Japanese sword, as revealed The Parisian. But also to send at the same time to his mother, always according to The Parisian, photos and videos of the five members of the family, on the ground and in blood. Whether at the time of the negotiation attempts initiated by the gendarmes, or during the attack on the GIGN, the behavior of the young man suggests that he was ready to die on Wednesday.
Is this one of the most important family killings in France for 20 years?
With these five victims, including three minors, in addition to the young killer, the toll of the Dover drama is extremely heavy. How not to think of the Dupont de Ligonnès affair when discussing the bloody family dramas of the past 20 years? In April 2011, Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four children were all shot dead in their sleep, before being discovered buried under the terrace of the family home. 11 years later, the main suspect, the father Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, is still nowhere to be found. More recently, in October 2020, another family massacre also claimed five victims, including four children (18 months, 5, 8 and 11 years old), in Noisy-le-Sec (Seine-Saint-Denis). The presumed author of this fivefold stabbing murder, in a house in Noisy-le-Sec, is a father of Sri Lankan origin.
In October 2017 in Aisne, five members of the De Bisschop family, a couple of farmers, were found killed by a gun at their home. The father allegedly shot his wife, as well as his children aged 12, 18 and 20, before turning the gun on himself, again for a mysterious motive. We can also mention the family massacre of Pouzauges, which shook the entire Vendée in May 2010. A 34-year-old doctor, found hanged, is suspected of having killed his wife and their four children aged 3, 5, 7 and 9. . In August 2009, young Andy (16 years old) killed his parents and his twin brothers (10 years old) with his father’s shotgun, in the family home of Albitreccia (Corse-du-Sud). He recognizes the crimes without providing an explanation, and finds himself declared irresponsible by the Assize Court in 2012. The killing of July 19-20, 2022 in Dover completes this list of bloody family miscellaneous facts.