Thursday, a desperate man ended his life inside the O'Parinor shopping center, in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), around 6:30 p.m.
This 49-year-old man, from Arnouville (Val-d'Oise), threw himself from level 2 by stepping over the railing of a parking lot to crash below.
According to a source close to the case, he fell head first on the asphalt, leaving him little chance of survival.
Alerted immediately, the municipal police went to the scene, followed by the national police.
The drama took place in front of witnesses and some were quick to react on social networks and to express their strong emotion.
On Twitter, a loose user: "Jss shocked, there's a grandpa who was on the floor in Parinor" (sic).
Others did not fail to film this unbearable scene and post it on the Net.
The victim was examined by a medical examiner, who pronounced him dead on the spot.
In accordance with the procedure, the practitioner first checked the “medico-legal obstacle” box to the lifting of the body.
As it stood, it was impossible to determine whether it was a voluntary act or whether the victim had been pushed by a third party.
The long wait for the family
The viewing of the cameras of the shopping center made it possible to confirm the hypothesis of the suicide.
With this capital data, the body could have been removed quickly.
However, it was not until shortly before midnight that the victim was evacuated from the shopping center.
After his report, the medical examiner left the scene, as well as the national police.
The family had not yet come forward.
"The decision to lift the body was, in the meantime, the police powers of the mayor who had to issue an order," said a police source.
Nearly an hour later, relatives arrived at the scene of the tragedy.
They were about to take over for the removal of the body.
Except that by consulting the document relating to the lifting of the body, the municipal police noticed that "the box
preventing the lifting of the body
has not been unchecked", explains this same source.
The situation was therefore frozen.
The victim was protected from view by a security perimeter and this time it was necessary to wait for a judicial police officer to be available.
Forcing the family to a long wait.
It was not until 11:45 p.m. that the body could be returned to the family and taken away by the funeral directors.