After having attacked a casino in Trouville (Calvados) early in the afternoon on Thursday, a 75-year-old criminal was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police a few kilometers outside the town. The elderly man astonished law enforcement personnel by shooting at them repeatedly over only a few thousand euros, but just one gendarme was wounded- in the forearm- an injury of "moderate gravity", affirms Gérald Lesigne, the assistant public prosecutor of Caen.
He opened fire on a casino guard. The incident began at 2:40 PM when the robber, with a cap on his head and a scarf covering his face, held up the Barrière casino. "The guard did not catch on immediately. He thought it was a prank. The man's weapon looked like a toy," recounts Gerald Lesigne. But when "the guard became too insistent, the stickup man shot at him."
A police officer saved by his bullet-proof vest. Making off with his spoils, characterised as small by the public prosecutor- a few thousand euros- he was met by the police outside the exit of the establishment. Visibly flustered, the old man managed to reach his own car, its license plate clearly visible, and from there fired a second shot, this time at a policeman. The latter was saved by his bullet-proof vest. The police returned fire, but the malefactor managed to escape.
He wounds a gendarme and takes a man hostage. A little later, at a round-about, a gendarme attempted to stop him, but the robber fired and wounded the serviceman in the forearm. "The gendarme returned fire in the direction of his vehicle," relates the magistrate. The elderly man succeded again in making his escape, but soon lost control of his vehicle, "without doubt damaged by law enforcement gunshots", and abandoned it. The criminal, who was then at Divers-sur-mer, at that point stopped a private individual driving his own car and hopped into the back seat. They drove a short distance, but the hostage took advantage of a decrease in speed to make his escape, forcing the robber to take the wheel.
The fatal shot of the gendarmes. It was 300 or 400 meters later that his expedition met its tragic end. Hit from behind by the gendarmes, he pulled out his gun, and, for the fourth time, fired. The policemen returned fire, and this time shot the man, who, according to the prosecutor general, did not have any prior criminal record.
The behavior of this septuagenarian, who, for a few thousand euros, did not hesitate to open fire on the police, is "perplexing", in the words even of Gerald Lesigne. The Regional Police and the judiciary from Rouen and Caen along with the inspector general of the Gendarmes are responsible for the investigation.
Read the article in the original French at this link.
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