Terrible drama on Wednesday in a society in Deux-Sèvres. A man opened fire with a handgun on Wednesday at a company CSE meeting, killing three workers, injuring a fourth, before committing suicide.
Facts
The gunman broke into his Roy la Noubleau mining company in Saint-Varent, Deux-Sèvres at 3 p.m. Wednesday at a CSE meeting. He was armed with a 9 mm pistol.
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According to a source close to the investigation, it was not clear at first if the shooter had indiscriminately fired at the meeting, or if he had targeted specific people.
According to Pierre Rambault, mayor of Saint-Varent, the shooter arrived in the room where a meeting of the CSE was held, gathering a dozen people, and where it seems, the man had been himself invited. “He did not barge in, he entered the room rather calmly. In his eyes, the director understood that something was going on. He pulled out a handgun behind the first person he shot. He was going around the table, “said the mayor, citing testimonies.
It was then that the shooter shot three people, before shooting himself in the head. A fourth was injured, but his life was not in danger.
Transferred to Poitiers University Hospital with a life-threatening prognosis, the victim succumbed to his injuries a few hours later.
Who were the victims?
The three people who died were a financial manager, a CFTC union representative and an unlabelled staff representative. According to the mayor, the shooter, “apparently fired on the three people he wanted to kill.” Of the 80 people employed by the company, only part of the staff was present.
What do we know about the shooter?
The 37-year-old man practiced sport shooting. According to the mayor, the man, single, is from Loudun (Vienne) where he lived with his father and “has not been in good shape” since the death of his mother, ten months ago. He “had just been declared unfit for any post” for a reason which has not been specified.
Investigation
More than 20 gendarmes were dispatched to the scene of the shooting, scientific investigators and forensic pathologists. A flagrance investigation for homicide was opened by the Niort prosecution and entrusted to the gendarmerie, the Poitiers research section and the Bressuire research brigade.
A medical and psychological unit from the Niort hospital center also visited the site.
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