A man who had shot several times on a fire truck that came to rescue him on Christmas Day was sentenced on Wednesday December 30 to five years in prison in Carpentras (Vaucluse), the prosecutor said.
Read also: Fake garbage collectors, fake firefighters ... How to recognize them?
"
This is a result commensurate with the stakes and the seriousness of the facts,
" said Pierre Gagnoud, public prosecutor of Carpentras, to AFP.
At the hearing for immediate appearance on Wednesday, Mr. Gagnoud had requested seven years in prison against the fifty-something, a hunter who had five rifles, a hunting crossbow and a shotgun.
"
If the driver of the vehicle had been at his post, he was dead,
" assured Mr. Gagnoud, referring to very large impacts on the truck, after five "
well-adjusted
"
shots
from the fifty-year-old, who targeted the firefighters' vehicle from his balcony, "a
very short distance
".
The condemned expressed "
regrets
", and did not remember "
the threats or the violence, and explained that he had shot by accident
", according to the magistrate.
Dozens of firefighters were present in front of the Carpentras court to show their solidarity with their targeted colleagues, observed the prosecutor, who hopes that this judgment "
will stand out
".
On December 25, the madman was celebrating Christmas with several relatives including his wife in their home in downtown Carpentras, "
with a lot of alcohol
", when he wanted to take down a strong cupboard in which he was storing his weapons.
"
This wardrobe falls on him, he is injured and breaks two ribs and his stepson calls for help,
" said Mr. Gagnoud.
When the firefighters arrived in the afternoon, the injured, "
more than grumpy
", threatened them.
The stepson then has the "
presence of mind
", according to the prosecutor, to warn them that his stepfather is heavily armed.
The sappers then take out the guests and the wife before locking up the drunken and threatening man at home.
Read also: Violent hazing among firefighters: increased prison sentences on appeal
It is then that the latter begins to shoot at the firefighters' vehicle, taking videos with his phone where he makes "
nihilist
" remarks
, where he spits his venom on the firefighters, the police, and says that it is his. last Christmas
”.
The police of Carpentras and the Raid de Marseille came as reinforcements, in a tense context a few days after the murder of three gendarmes in the Puy-de-Dôme, obtain at 9 pm the surrender of the madman, a concrete delivery driver.
At the end of his police custody on Sunday, he was presented to the prosecutor and then placed under a committal warrant.
In a statement, the national federation of firefighters condemned this act, and said to expect from the national observatory of violence targeting firefighters installed in December "
the declination of its proposals to the senatorial mission of information on security firefighters in intervention
”.
