The man is still at large but the investigation is progressing. His car, his service weapon and ammunition were found on Saturday in a fast-food parking lot in Amiens (Somme).
It was a local resident who recognized the fugitive’s car “in the Burger King car park in Amiens-Sud” Friday night, according to a source familiar with the matter. A call for witnesses had been launched two days earlier, on February 10, by the Paris police headquarters.
The search notice which mentioned the name of the fugitive, “Arnaud B.”, and broadcast his photo where he appeared wearing a black beard, shaved hair and wearing a black T-shirt, also gave a precise description of his vehicle , a white Peugeot 208 registered DQ-759-HN “in poor general condition”.
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Police then went to the scene to verify the reliability of the testimony. Called in as reinforcements, the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) installed a surveillance device in the hope of arresting the suspect.
A futile wait, which led the police to search the car last Saturday. “The vehicle, the service weapon and two supplied magazines were found in Amiens on February 11 and 12”confirmed a judicial source.
The hunt for the policeman continues, according to a source close to the investigation.
While the authorities have been criticized for having delayed issuing an appeal for witnesses, a source close to the case justified this delay by explaining that it was a measure aimed at preventing the police officer “panic” and take it out on other people.
This 29-year-old peacekeeper has been wanted since January 28, the day of the discovery in his apartment in the 19th arrondissement of Paris of the body of his companion, aged 28 and who died by strangulation according to the autopsy.
His body had been discovered in the bathroom by Parisian police officers who came to the suspect’s home, assigned to Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis). The latter’s colleagues had given the alert, worried that they would no longer hear from him after he had announced that he would not be taking his service the same day.
The man is known for acts of domestic violence. He had been placed in police custody in October 2019 for violence against his partner at the time and had received an alternative to prosecution, an awareness course on domestic violence.
Administratively, he had been sanctioned with a simple warning, the lowest disciplinary sanction in the public service, not recorded in the agent’s file. A judicial investigation was opened on February 1 on the count of “intentional homicide on a spouse, cohabitant or partner”, indicated the Paris prosecutor’s office.
At the same time, the prefect of police Didier Lallement seized the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) to investigate possible shortcomings concerning the authorization to carry a weapon granted to the police officer.
The investigation aims “service organization” at the Blanc-Mesnil police station, had completed a source close to the file. According to France Info, the police officer was prohibited from keeping his weapon outside his workplace.
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