First a station wagon. That of the gendarmes of the research section of Poitiers (Vienne), who comes to park this Thursday afternoon between two modest buildings located on the edge of the small town of Loudun. Then a second. An ocher-colored Renault Mégane perched on a flatbed truck, which drops it off shortly after in the same car park, while the gendarmes supervise the maneuver before leaving the premises.
In this second vehicle: a CB antenna and a used surgical mask. The interior is as smooth as the exterior. Like what seemed to be the personality of its owner, Yohan B., 37 years old. It was at the wheel of this Mégane that he went, early Wednesday afternoon, to the Roy quarry site in Saint-Varent (Deux-Sèvres), 35 km southwest of his home in Loudun. Where he killed three of his colleagues in cold blood before killing himself.
Yohan B. had been working on this site called de la Noubleau since 2012. In January, he was put on sick leave. Theoretically, it should have resumed last Monday. But the occupational doctor, who had to validate this recovery, had decided otherwise, considering him "unfit" for all the positions offered by this company of a hundred employees, the leading producer of aggregates in France.
"In his eyes, the director understood that there was a problem"
The same day, the doctor communicated his diagnosis to the Roy company. Yohan B. had come to file his own opinion. "There was no return indicating any threat," said Christophe Jozon, the president, on Thursday.
However, shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, Yohan B. parks his vehicle in front of the administrative building. "A bit like a cowboy," as a witness explained to Pierre Rambault, the mayor of Saint-Varent. Inside, nine people participate in a meeting aimed at specifying the procedures for resuming post-Covid activities. According to another witness, who confided in "the New Republic", Yohan entered the room without haste. "But in his eyes, the director understood that there was a problem. "
Methodically, the thirties target three people. "He fired on sight and very quickly," according to Emmanuel Weber, commander of the Bressuire gendarmerie brigade. A manager and two CFDT staff representatives, Alain Guillemain and Jérôme Perst, were fatally injured. One of them is shot dead while trying to flee. A fourth person calls the shooter: "Me too are you going to shoot me in the back? "Go ahead and get lost!" "Yohan would have replied.
In the process, he shoves the 9 mm pistol into his mouth and pulls the trigger. When help arrived, there was nothing more to do for his three victims. He still breathes. He died in the evening. A death that leaves many questions unanswered. At his apartment in Loudun, now placed under seal, no writing or clue has yet allowed investigators to learn more about this act. No more than the search of his cellar on Wednesday evening, or the hearings of his relatives, few. If Yohan himself was a member of the CFDT, the union ruled out the possibility of a “settlement of accounts”.
No criminal or psychiatric history
Unanimously, Yohan B., with no judicial or psychiatric background, is described by his neighbors as "a good boy", even if "very lonely. He had moved into this small HLM accommodation a few years ago. A stone's throw from where his mother lives, employed in a public establishment, and divorced from her father for a long time. "At first, he came to see him," recalls a neighbor. He died a few months ago. But Yohan had not poured out. No more than he did in his personal or professional life.
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Some of his neighbors started talking to him a year ago. A fire on the fourth and last floor of the building had thrown everyone into the courtyard in the middle of the night, and made it possible to forge links. "We started to say hello, then to chat when we crossed paths with Leclerc," says Hervé, a dashing retired man who lives on the upper floors.
Just before confinement, and when Yohan did not have his car, Hervé had offered to take him to the hospital. "He was suffering from nosebleeds then, but the doctors told him it was okay. During the journey, Yohan had briefly revealed to him that he was suffering from depression. "He also told me that with his colleagues, the atmosphere was far from being at the top," continues Hervé. "But from there to commit such an act ... It's a very hard blow," blows another neighbor.
"We always saw him alone"
"I think he worked shift schedules," she explains. During the day, we often saw his car parked and its shutters closed. According to the first elements of the investigation, Yohan practiced sport shooting. A hobby that grimly takes on an afterthought, and which he had obviously not talked about there yet to anyone. On the seals of his accommodation, it is however the mention "assassination" which appears, suggesting the premeditation of an act which could remain forever mysterious.
"I'm sure that containment must have played," Hervé tries. "We always saw him alone, says. Patricia, another resident of the building. It's obvious to no one. Myself, at one point, during this confinement, I am not ashamed to say that I thought of finishing, she lets go, crushing a tear. But with his gesture, four families are wiped out. "
This Thursday, a colleague of Jérôme, one of the assassinated union representatives, spoke to honor his memory. Head of the construction branch of the Deux-Sèvres CFDT, Catherine Vezien had been friends with him for 20 years. Beyond his post at Roy quarries, Jérôme was also his assistant, and treasurer of the union at the departmental level. "I find myself facing his empty office," she told the local daily. I don't know if I can get over it. "
