During an intervention in a town in the Var, a man “armed with a knife” was fatally shot by a police officer. The shooter was taken into custody.
The intervention turned into a tragedy. This Wednesday, February 21, at the end of the day, a gendarme fatally injured a man during an intervention in the town of Les Arcs, in the Var. The member of the police has since been placed in police custody according to the Draguignan public prosecutor’s office, which has opened a flagrant investigation for “intentional homicide by a person holding public authority”. The general inspection of the national gendarmerie (IGGN) is in charge of the investigations and must determine the real conditions of the intervention and whether they justified the gendarme’s shooting.
Initially, the surveillance and intervention squad of the national gendarmerie (Psig) intervened at the home of the deceased man at the request of the municipal police after “acts of contempt against persons holding public authority ” according to the press release from the public prosecutor of Draguignan, Pierre Couttenier. Which specified that the victim was known for “his criminal record and likely to present mental disorders”.
A knife and “flammable product”
Shortly after the arrival of the gendarmes, the intervention took another turn. Once the police were present in front of the home, the targeted man allegedly dumped a “flammable product” under his door which flowed into the common areas of the building, report France 3 And TF1/LCI. Fearing “for the safety of local residents” and that the man would set the product on fire, the gendarmes forced entry to the home. There they found a man “armed with a knife” who threw himself at them, reports the prosecutor. In response, the gendarme who fired the fatal shot opened fire.
The prosecution specified that in parallel with the IGGN investigation into the gendarme’s shooting, the research section will carry out investigations into the initial facts which led to the intervention of the police.