A 97-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after killing his 95-year-old wife in Puget-sur-Argens (Var), the Draguignan public prosecutor, Pierre Couttenier, announced on Wednesday.
Tuesday around 5 p.m., the man opened fire on his wife, the prosecutor said in a press release.
Placed in police custody when the police arrived, the nonagenarian admitted to having shot her.
The investigation was entrusted to the research brigade of the national gendarmerie of Saint-Tropez and the territorial brigade of Fréjus, for intentional homicide aggravated by the status of spouse.
Femicides
On Sunday, the Draguignan public prosecutor's office had already announced the discovery of the lifeless bodies of two octogenarians at their home in Saint-Raphaël, in the Var.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the man probably killed his seriously ill wife before turning the weapon against himself.
Monday, an 86-year-old man was arrested in Marignane (Bouches-du-Rhône) after admitting to the murder of his 76-year-old wife at their home.
On average, a feminicide occurs every three days in France.
The Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti recently put forward the figure of 94 femicides in 2023, compared to 118 in 2022, a downward count viewed with skepticism by feminist associations.