An 82-year-old man shot and killed his 74-year-old wife before turning the gun on him in an attempt to kill himself at their home in Jussy (Moselle).
Their bodies were discovered Thursday by a nurse, we learned from the Metz prosecutor's office.
The husband was transported to Nancy hospital, in serious condition.
"The 74-year-old victim suffered from dementia and seemed to him to be suffering from depression," said deputy prosecutor Julien Berger, specifying that the prosecution had opened a flagrant murder investigation.
The couple unknown to the police
According to the prosecution, the couple was not known to the police, only "the neighbors being aware of the dementia problems" of the victim.
The bodies of the woman and her seriously injured husband were discovered by the nurse who visited them daily.
The investigation was entrusted to the research brigade of the Metz gendarmerie.