A 67-year-old man, suspected of having killed his daughter and injured his son-in-law with a hunting rifle, was indicted on Friday for murder and attempted murder, said Angoulême prosecutor Stéphanie Aouine.
According to the prosecutor, the suspect "
waited
" for the victims in front of their home, before shooting them five times, first on the son-in-law, then on his own daughter, as soon as they arrived by car.
The facts took place early Thursday afternoon in Garat, a town of 2,000 inhabitants a few km east of Angoulême.
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The woman received a "
fatal blow to the dorsal level
" fired "
in close proximity
" while she had locked herself in her vehicle and called for help, "
without the possibility of fleeing
", added Stéphanie Aouine during a press conference. During the shooting, his companion, targeted first and injured in the arm, tried to get away from the vehicle, "
thinking that this would encourage the shooter to follow him
", without succeeding. The alleged shooter was arrested Thursday shortly after the facts, while he "
began
" to throw his car in a pond in the neighboring department of Dordogne to try "
to drown himself with his vehicle
".
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The motive is ignored for the moment, but the Angoulême prosecutor's office specifies that the man had already been sentenced twice between 2017 and 2019 for violence with a weapon and threats committed against his daughter and her companion at the time.
Ten days before the facts, the victim had filed a third complaint against her father for "
psychological harassment
", to denounce "
the permanent surveillance
" of the latter on the couple.
The suspect was in medical custody due to diabetes and suicidal comments.
His incarceration in a specialized establishment was not yet decided on Friday afternoon.