48 hours after the tragedy which cost the lives of two people on Saturday November 14 in Cholet, the emotion remains strong in this town of Maine-et-Loire.
Many questions remain, including the complex personality of the main suspect, a 35-year-old man with multiple psychiatric backgrounds.
Read also: At the opening of his trial, Jonathann Daval admits the murder of his wife
In the Tuileries-Leclerc district, where the attacks were committed, the drama is on everyone's lips.
This is in any case what noted Monday the owner of the bakery
La Ronde des Pains
located a few hundred meters from the two crime scenes.
“The customers were only talking about that this morning, it must be said that it is so unexpected.
We are all shocked, ”
explains the baker.
And the latter added:
"when we read the various facts in the press, it always happens far from home, we do not realize that this time it is indeed in Cholet that such atrocity took place.
".
"Guide by God to act"
Chantal *, a retired Choletaise living in the neighborhood, also says she is upset by what has just happened downstairs.
“
We live in a neighborhood that is usually so quiet, that's unbelievable,
” says the retiree who has lived in the Tuileries for about thirty years.
"
I spent forty-eight hours in anguish thinking about the person who could have done that
" she says again.
“It's astonishment, really I can't believe it.
Apart from bicycle thefts, and again, we never have to deal with any violence in our neighborhood, ”
says Paul *, another neighbor.
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Contacted, Gilles Bourdouleix, the mayor of Cholet, did not wish to speak on
"the appalling aggression",
in his words.
It is approximately 4 pm Saturday, November 14 when a man,
"guided by God to act"
according to his statements in police custody, violently assaults an elderly couple in the street before returning home.
The 82-year-old husband quickly succumbs to his injuries while his wife, one year his junior, is seriously injured.
Once at home, the alleged aggressor changes before receiving, again according to him, a new divine order.
"God, the Catholic God, would have told him that it was also necessary to attack another, he went down and the first person he met is the third victim, and the second deceased"
recounted Eric Bouillard at a press conference.
According to the baker, the second victim, a 63-year-old man, was "
not from the area
" but was in the neighborhood to "
visit an apartment
".
"An outbreak of violence"
After this second assault, the individual
"returns to his home, cleans up a little at home, as he had already done between the two assaults, and lies down on the sofa and waits"
explained the prosecutor.
"
We heard a whole bunch of sirens screaming in the neighborhood, then we saw the helicopter
" says the baker who says she was taken, with her husband, of a "
movement of panic
".
“When we found out why there was all the commotion in the neighborhood, we decided to quickly close the bakery and go home, as a precaution,” she
explains.
“A client was supposed to come and collect her bread, she was told not to come”.
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The alleged aggressor was finally arrested at his home around 6 p.m. and immediately taken into police custody.
If a murder weapon is initially sought by investigators, it seems in truth that the respondent acted with his bare hands and with his feet.
An element which testifies to the extreme violence of the attacks.
Éric Bouillard seems to corroborate this hypothesis.
This evokes an “
outburst of violence
” which caused “
multiple wounds on the faces of the victims
”.
Between burnout and sentimental setbacks
The respondent was known to the police for common law offenses, in particular for carrying an illegal weapon.
He was also known to his neighbors as "
being a bit disturbed
", the prosecutor reported.
He was also hospitalized under duress in a psychiatric establishment in 2018. This therapeutic follow-up lasted until last summer according to the Angers prosecutor's office.
And to stress that several checks were made, in particular at the home of the accused, to find out whether the latter belonged to a religious group or not.
Presenting himself as a Catholic, the suspect claimed during his custody to be a prophet whose motivation was to punish non-believers.
To read also: "Mr. Prime Minister, hear the Catholics!"
The individual also claimed to have suffered a burnout.
According to information from
Ouest France
,
"he was indeed encountering professional setbacks recently, as he confided in several neighbors."
Athletic and measuring 1.90 m, the individual was also known in the world of amateur football and attended three clubs in Cholet reports
Ouest France
.
Some have described it as unmanageable, even strange.
In 2018, he reportedly suffered heartache.
The suspect was to be indicted on Monday.
The case is also in joint referral between the judicial police and the departmental security.
* The first names of people wishing to remain anonymous have been changed.
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