A quintuple murder which leaves an entire department in incomprehension this Sunday. What happened in the mind of Paul D., who is suspected of having killed five people between Wormhout and Loon-Plage, Saturday afternoon, near Dunkirk, before going on his own to the police?
What are the facts?
The five murders were committed in less than two hours, between Flanders and Dunkirk. The bloody series began in Wormhout (North), in Flanders between Lille and Dunkirk, where a 29-year-old man was killed by several gunshots around 3 p.m., “in front of his home”, indicates the prosecution. Then around 4 p.m., two security agents who were patrolling their workplace were in turn killed by several gunshots in the outskirts of Loon-Plage in the direction of Dunkirk, specifies the prosecution.
A few minutes later, still on the outskirts of Loon-Plage, almost five kilometers further, two last men, who “could be of Iranian nationality, aged 19 and 30” were also shot and killed, indicates the prosecution.
What do we know about the shooter’s profile?
The man who went to the gendarmerie on Saturday accusing himself of five murders committed in the afternoon around Dunkirk was not known to the police. Aged 22, he was taken into police custody after presenting himself to the gendarmerie in Ghyvelde (North) on Saturday around 5:20 p.m., two hours after the first murder.
He “is unknown to the police services and the judicial authority”, and “several firearms were found in his car”, indicated Dunkirk public prosecutor Charlotte Huet in a press release. The investigation was opened for “murders preceded, accompanied or followed by another crime” and “acquisition, possession, carrying and transport of category A and B weapons”, acts punishable by life imprisonment.
According to information from the Voice of the Norththe assailant, Paul D., resident of Ghyvelde, belonged to a shooting club and was a very good shooter. He is said to have several declared weapons in his possession.
Who are the victims?
Notified at 3:15 p.m., firefighters discovered at the scene of the first murder a man hit by several shots, in the courtyard of his home. According to France Bleu Nord, the 29-year-old victim, Paul D., was the head of a repair company, father of two young children and who would be the former employer of the perpetrator of the shooting. In a message posted on Facebook, the municipality of Wormhout deplores “the assassination of a business manager” which leaves “bereaved families and devastated loved ones”.
In Loon-Plage, two security agents from the ECS company responsible for monitoring the area, Aurélien C. (33 years old) and Mark L. (37 years old), were shot dead less than an hour later. According to The Parisianthe two men have already been employed in numerous events in the region, especially balls and carnivals. Marc, father of two children, was a member of a motorcycle club. “A man who always had a smile, very dedicated, very willing and available,” confides the club director on a daily basis.
Both seemed well known to Dunkirk residents. During their career, they had to secure balls and other carnivals in the region. Marc, father of two daughters, was part of a motorcycle club on the Loon-Plage coast, just like his twin brother, Jérôme. He lived in Bourbourg. Contacted by Le Parisien, the club director, Isabelle Andrieux, described a man “who always had a smile, very dedicated, very willing and available”.
A few minutes later, the suspect killed two men aged 19 and 30, probably of Iranian nationality, at close range, near the “jungle” of Loon-Plage. “Two of the victims were exiled people who were surviving in one of the informal camps in the region, and had the hope of reaching England,” reports the Utopia 56 association.
What is the suspect’s motive?
The prosecutor stressed that “numerous investigations are underway” in particular to “clarify the reasons which led the accused to commit these crimes”.
According to a source close to the case contacted by AFP, among the avenues considered, there could have been a professional dispute between the alleged shooter and the two companies in which the first three victims worked.
The mayor of Wormhout, David Calcoen, said he was “stunned” to La Voix du Nord: “I cannot understand how this could have happened. You can’t just arrive at this isolated farm by chance. » . The mayor of Loon-Plage Éric Rommel shared his dismay: “We could do without this kind of news, five lives are gone. It’s really free (…) Settling of scores or madness? We don’t know. »