Opening of the hostage-taking trial in Lourdes in 2019

Five hours.

This is the time during which two women saw their lives hanging by a thread, in the hands of a man armed with a shotgun.

From this Monday, January 23 and throughout the week, a fifty-year-old will be tried before the Assize Court of Tarbes for "attempted assassination", "attempted murder", "violence on police officers" and "taking of hostages”, reports France Bleu.

On April 23, 2019, he broke into the home of his two victims, in Lourdes, in the Pyrenees.

One was none other than his ex-wife.

At the time of the events, while local residents had alerted the authorities, the tension was such that an intervention by the RAID was deemed necessary.

According to the local media, the man had doused his wife and mother-in-law with gasoline, threatening to burn them.

Still according to the same source, during negotiations with the RAID, the individual would also have requested two coffins, one for him and one for his former companion.

When arrested, the man assured that he had no intention of killing anyone, but that he simply wanted to take his own life.