A 43-year-old tax official was killed on Tuesday after being kidnapped with a colleague as part of a tax audit at a second-hand goods dealer in Bullecourt, a small village of 250 inhabitants, made up of red brick houses, in the south of 'Arras (Pas-de-Calais), who then took his own life.
The point on what we know.
What happened
Shortly before 7 p.m. on Monday, witnesses alerted the emergency services: a madman was then detaining two people in a house in Bullecourt.
Upon their arrival, the firefighters noted the tragedy: a 43-year-old man was discovered killed "several stab wounds", indicates a source close to the investigation.
“A woman, tax inspector”, was also found at the home of the junk dealer, “tied to a chair and deeply shocked”, adds this source.
The two officials would have been sequestered while they were carrying out a tax audit at the madman's house.
He committed suicide by gunshot.
His body was found in an outbuilding of the house.
“When the gendarmes arrived, the two men were dead,” said another source.
The public prosecutor of Arras should speak in more detail this Tuesday during the day, according to La Voix du Nord.
The research section of the Hauts-de-France gendarmerie was seized.
Who are the victims ?
The victim was head of the verification brigade in Pas-de-Calais, he said.
Her colleague found tied up, a "verifier" according to France Bleu, is a 38-year-old woman.
Who is the junk dealer?
The junk dealer, divorced and father of two children, “had arrived in the village four years ago”, details the mayor of the village, Éric Bianchin.
“He had bought a farm in rue de Quéant, where he was selling at home.
He emptied houses, garage sales and resold at home, ”says the city councilor.
“It's a small village, everyone knows each other.
I never had a problem with him, he was helpful, he was a regular person.
He was integrated into the village, ”continued the mayor.
According to him, the inhabitants "saw him very little", because "he left very early in the morning for his activity".
The reactions
“This man was simply doing his job (…) Today, he did not come back.
He was killed as part of this tax audit, ”lamented in the middle of the evening before the Senate the Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal.
The colleagues of the victim, who worked for "the departmental directorate of public finances (DDFIP) of Pas-de-Calais and more broadly all public finance officers are this evening upset and in mourning", he added, denouncing "an unspeakable tragedy".
The Senate marks a minute of silence in tribute to the tax auditor killed in Pas-de-Calais pic.twitter.com/pIGv5uGOjK
– BFM Grand Lille (@BFMGrandLille) November 21, 2022
The minister said he would go to the DDFIP in Arras on Tuesday morning.
He is expected there at 11:30 a.m.
"Tonight, the public service has the face of this brigade leader", he insisted, before inviting a moment of meditation "in his homage" in the hemicycle.
